


Worship of Love

by Brii_elle



Category: No Fandom
Genre: Alcohol Abuse/Alcoholism, Alternate Universe - Ouran High School Host Club Fusion, Attempted Murder, Blood and Gore, Drug Use, Fluff and Angst, High School, Kendo, Knifeplay, Master/Servant, Multi, Senpai-Kouhai Relationship, Weird Plot Shit
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-01-18
Updated: 2021-03-13
Packaged: 2021-03-17 02:42:27
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 12
Words: 46,753
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28841817
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Brii_elle/pseuds/Brii_elle
Summary: Cy and Ivy are brand new students at Roman Academy. Ivy unexpectedly meets with the Simps Club’s Secretary, who happens to be her older brother’s kouhai when he was a third year. Now Ivy is a trainee to pay her older brothers debts for the Club. Cy is a new student, and is scouted by many sport clubs for his enormous height. But he declined nicely. He then meets up with his classmate Kaseh, where she drags him to the SC’s room for photos. Cy meets with the Simps Club after a horrible incident and horribly ends up as their pet, now both him and Ivy end up working for the club. There’s a lot of flirting and all that lovey dovey stuff in this story so ew. There will be other stuff rather than love such as money corruption, family problems, and probably angst. But overall it’s a Romance Comedy that features many of slice of life of all of the clubs at the Campus.
Relationships: Original Character(s)/Original Character(s)
Comments: 8
Kudos: 8





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Hand Holding Cult GC](https://archiveofourown.org/gifts?recipient=Hand+Holding+Cult+GC).



> (Disclaimer that there will be no established relationships, shipping is fine, but no relationships would be approved.)

Prologue: 

Just like before, you made me hesitate again,  
The you who says nothing is just like yesterday.  
Try saying it straightforwardly, try looking in my eyes,  
Before this night is over,  
Before the starlight disappears.  
\--Trouble Maker, “Now (No Tomorrow)”

"Stupid, you don’t even know how to impress someone? If you wanna upgrade your status in the club you gotta learn how to flirt!"

"But I'm always kissing people on the hand! Can't we switch it up more?"

"Kiss them on the cheek. That can be romantic too, you know."

"Can you show me then?"

Angela knew the repercussions of challenging her senior. 

"If I were to dazzle a customer, I would make it known in small ways. If you wanted to make a chaste kiss more romantic, you have to start softly."  
Gia stroked Angela’s cheek, and slowly moved her face towards hers.

"You push the hair out of her face gently, so she can look you in the eyes. So she can face your feelings full-on and know you are being serious."

She moved so her lips were next to Angela’s ear, and she felt a chill run down her spine from her warm breath.  
"You whisper in her ear how much you love her. How much you don't want your time with her to ever end. And then…" Gia withdrew herself and kissed Angela’s cheek gently.

It sparked a totally different feeling. It felt more planned and thoughtful.  
Gia quietly withdrew her hand from her face and moved back. Angela smirked. She followed her senpai’s directions.

Like she had just instructed, Angela traced Gia's temple down to her cheek (she had no hair in her eyes to move), and moved closer.

"Even if that's the method, can't they continue?" Angela whispered. She kissed the outer shell of her ear, which caused Gia to flinch, and moved back to kiss her cheek. She didn't stop there. She kissed her cheek, then her temple, then down her nose, and lingered over her lips for a second.

“J-just stop it already-!!!“ A voice stuttered, completely ruining the mood for the two girls.

“What’s wrong Ivy? They’re just practicing” Moon’s smile deepened, softened. “Ah Vice President,” she murmured. “You’re such a romantic, you know…”

“Senpai Moon, H-how do you call that practice-?!?” Ivy muttered, she was mostly blushing and staring. Face was red, her school clothes crumpled; she looked like those types of kids walking in on their parents doing the thing.

Putting that aside in favor of noticing what she’s actually supposed to be focusing on this very moment, something which is not someone looking over Ivy’s shoulder with their warm breath ghosting over the shell of her ear.  
“What’s the matter Ivy?”

The poor young girl flinched and by instinct, smacked the person behind her. Which supposedly happened to be the Club’s president. 

But then again, how in the world did Ivy Banza end up here in the first place? And after all these years, well. She’s kind of used to it. She pulls back then, grinning at her president and grabbing Jay’s hand, pulling her up from the ground.  
.  
.  
.  
A few months back—

You are Ivy Banza, and right here, right now, lying motionlessly in your own bed, you don’t want to move a single muscle  
.  
But you know you should. After all, it is graduation day at your older brother’s Academy – not yours, you're still in the last year of junior high and all – , you have your brother, who all but makes up for all of them.

Older Brother.

He’s graduating today. This would be the last time you’d ever see him wearing his totally out-of-place uniform shirt, his merely out of placed tie against the cloudy white shirts of everyone else, his sleeves down to his wrists for once, a vague nod to the requisites of formality. This would be the last time he’d chase after you with a hiss and an iron first once you (inevitably) tease him about his new girlfriend, the last time he’d begrudgingly ruffle your hair and say that he’s perfectly fine with leaving the household. 

This is the last time that he’ll take the same train together with you, the last time he’ll buy you treats whenever you begged for some afterschool.

This would be the last time, and you should be there, but you don’t want to – there’s a difference. You should be there because, for some reason, you have the feeling that once he sees you cheering him on from the basketball bleachers your brothers lips would quirk in the smallest of smiles (before cooling itself into a tightly, barely-repressed mask of rage because of course you’d still be late for this, of all things). But you’re not there, can’t even bring yourself out of bed..

It’s a shame you don’t even want to take a single step away from this damned bed, because you want to be there for him, you want to give him flowers and watch his eyes light up (before he promptly smacks you in the head for wasting money on something that wilts, like he had before). You want to take his face in your hands and tell him –

Wait. What did you want to tell him?

Nevertheless. Whatever it was, it doesn’t matter, because right now you have a massive stomach ache and you have no choice but to skip out on today. 

It’s the same stomach ache as always, as if a whole cathedral’s worth of rocks were sitting snugly on your stomach, only there’s also the added bonus of your heart clenching painfully in your chest. Some of-unnoticed morbid part of your brain wonders if this is what it feels to die.  
.  
.  
.  
.  
He leaves the city a couple of days after, it's the end of your last year of junior high. He’s gone now, such regrets. You're finally going to go to Roman Academy of the divine and educated, just like your brother did.

~...~


	2. Heavenly Girls

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The entrance exam was fairly hard to be honest. As Ivy lingers around the school gates. She was early, but many students were outside as Clubs from the school scavenged the first years for any new members. She’s still busy looking out for anything that she might need for this year. 
> 
> As she overlooks the crowd, a nearby group of senior students(probably second years) bump into her. And she believes they did it on purpose.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> *sigh*

The entrance exam was fairly hard to be honest. As Ivy lingers around the school gates. She was early, but many students were outside as Clubs from the school scavenged the first years for any new members. She’s still busy looking out for anything that she might need for this year. 

As she overlooks the crowd, a nearby group of senior students(probably second years) bump into her. And she believes they did it on purpose.

“Hey what’s your problem?” Ivy accidentally blurts out for the girls to hear from the distance.

Ivy doesn't have any time to react before she slaps her mouth with her hand. 

The moment Ivy puts a spitting-mad group of second years, she’s seized by the collar and unceremoniously dragged off into one of the many shady back of the school grounds. 

One girl yanks Ivy around so her back is against the grimy concrete, presses her against the wall and then swoops in and glares at her sharply. She swallows audibly.

“Listen up,” the second year hisses slowly into the shell of her ear. “I’m sick and tired of all this nonsense. What’s a first year like you gonna do?”

Eh? Ivy blinks in surprise at that part, but flicks her eyes back down.

She can feel a little something surge inside her, as she hears herself think:  
I'm being pinned to a wall, ain't it always turn out romantic in movies?

They start staring a little coldly into her eyes now as the student waits for some kind of response, hand still fisted around her collar — so Ivy reaches over and pulls their neck forward so they bump foreheads — HARD!

A slight yell came out of the students mouth before tumbling down to the ground. The rest of the group surrounded her.

What am I supposed to do now—?

“Hey ho~! what’s the commotion here?” A pipey yet cheerful voice yelled from behind. Ivy opened her eyes to see a tall yet pretty student, walking towards her.

The group of girls whispered and realized as if they made the worst mistake of their entire lives, before scrambling out of the scene.

The first year stood shaking, forehead bruised- The beautiful yet stunning girl looked down to see Ivy, her hair drooping across her forehead. She thought she could see a pink spot on Ivy’s skin where they had collided with another student, so the girl reached out and brushed Ivy’s bangs aside to check.

“Oh my! Is your head okay? I’m very sorry about those second years..”

Ivy blinked up at her hand slowly. “It’s fine—Wh-what are you doing?!”

She smacked her hand away and she stumbled back with a bright smile.

“I guess you’re okay, I’m glad!” the mysterious woman claimed, standing up again.

Ivy shook her head, and stood up.

“Hmm...What’s a first year doing out here all alone? Do you want me to walk you back?” 

“I-I can go b-by myself-“ Ivy laughed nervously, scratching her cheek.

“Oh well, I hope no second years come chasing you again-“ the girl proceeded to walk away, as Ivy jogged behind her.

“C-can I ask you your name?” Ivy asked in a low toned voice. 

They stopped walking, and turned her head towards the first year. She gave a small pout, “You don't know me?”

Confused at the response, Ivy shook her head sideways.

It was like a cheesy romance panel ripped out into reality. Ivy can definitely imagine the pretty pink roses and sparkles as the student spoke, “Oh my Darling! I'm Moonchaku, the Simps Club’s wonderful secretary! Let me take your hand and I shall take you to-“ 

Suddenly Moon’s got an arm around Ivy’s shoulder and her eyes are fluttering closed as she leans in tilting her head close. Closely staring back at Ivy’s eyes. 

“…!?”  
“…”

Did she just.  
She did just do that, didn’t she.  
Yeah, Moon did just do that, and when she pulls away she’s facing Ivy with such a beatific smile that's definitely not looking out of place in some classical painting of saints or cherubic figures, down to the rosy cheeks and overall sparkle. 

Moon smiling at her, head cocked innocently, as if nothing happened, absolutely nothing at all. Ivy was speechless- nothing could come out of her pursed lips. 

“m-my name is Ivy! uh Ivy Banza!” Ivy snapped back to reality, realizing how she drooled like a dog for her own senpai.

“Banza? like you mean Tomoda’s little sister?” Moon gasped as she leaned in closer to the younger girl.

“You know my brother!” Ivy exclaimed 

“Of course I do!, I was his beloved kouhai back when I was a second year. Too bad he went out of the city” She smoothed her hair back and repositioned herself in front of the short girl. “He used to be a regular customer for our club! That's where I met him”

How come her brother never told her about some Simps Club? And the way he even had a kouhai to begin with?! 

As multiple problems and questions popped in Ivy’s head, Moon continued talking. She couldn’t quite remember what Moon said. But it was about her brother's debts and regret loading onto the Club. 

Suddenly Moon grabbed Ivy’s wrist and dragged her into the School. Up the stairs and into a room. It was so beautiful, so spectacular— it was like walking inside a palace. How in the world can a room like this be different from the rest of the school?

Moon knocked on the door. A “come in” came from the other side. They both entered a small yet organized office, and a chair turned to face them. Yet, another stunning girl eyed her. This school is filled with pretty girls— 

“What did you bring this time Moon?” the girl sighed in their leather seat, while they fiddled with pieces of hair.

“You won’t believe what I found Lily-kun, remember Tomoda-San last year?” 

Lily stopped fiddling and looked up, eyes wide, and ready to hear what Moon had to say.

“I found his sister!” Moon lifted Ivy up and started wiping off some dust on Ivy’s school uniform.

Lily sighed heavily, disappointed. They then proceeded to sit down and fiddle again. “What’s she gonna do now? clean our floors?—“

“I’ve been thinking that maybe we can pay the debts by using Ivy as a trainee! She meets the standards for a good host!” Moon smiled eagerly waiting for Lily’s approval.

Lily was beautiful, their subtle face. Yet petite appearance made them believe they were the boss of this Club. Ivy tries, in vain, not to imagine how Lily would look in something any thinner than their school blouse and skirt. Their eyes, Oh! their eyes...they’re irises were like tiny islands in the middle. Drowning into an abyss of beauty.

When the two await for an answer, the cool air from the open window blasts them like the opposite of a furnace, blowing Lily’s brown locks with such grace.

“Fine— I’ll accept the offer, you do seem pretty— what skin products do you use?” Lily spoke, pft finally, what seemed like ages.

“O-oh?” Ivy stammered, finally bowing down. “I don't use any skin products...”

“Well isn't that nice, Natural Beauty from the start!” Moon clapped her hands together.

“Well, Ivy you start tomorrow morning for training, Moonchaku will give you guidance” 

Moon and Ivy walked out of the small office, as they sat on a nice red couch. The 3rd year then proceeded to grab a clipboard on a nearby side table. In an appropriate manner she listed through the rules.

1\. You must be committed to activities within the SC  
2\. You mustn’t harass customers   
3\. Final Rule: You are absolutely forbidden to date our customers or members 

“I thought there would be more-“ Ivy muttered, examining Moon's posh figure.

“Oh we aren’t that strict! haha” The older senpai looked down at her pink wristwatch, “Huh,,the other members should be here by now”.

Ivy just remembered, Oh no— other members? more flirting?

The Club's Doors opened and to her surprise the room lit up, that morning was renewed, but this time she didn’t want to forget how each member's faces curved or how their eyelashes clumped together or how deep their eyes were. The way each girl had somewhat a personality to them, a different type. She felt the sudden urge to melt away in their arms, let them cradle her gently. All 4 other members walked into the set. Inflicted with such grace and beauty as they finally noticed the 1st year on the couch.

With the 1st year’s lack of reply, Moon finally stands up and welcomes them. Ivy is still frozen, staring right at them. Moon slyly whispered deep into the group’s eager ears, “Greet the new member” and something else.  
Their eyes widened and eyed Ivy suspiciously, before giving her a warm smile. 

“I don’t recall Tomoda San having siblings? or maybe you're adopted?”

“Hey— President don’t be so mean-“ 

“Shut up Cat Lady”

“Both of you just stop talking”

Ivy was proud to say that she was confident in her leg strength and knew she would easily be able to kick someone with it, although, such a thought and action would obviously be deemed as unnecessary.

Allowing a hand to glide through her hair, she patted it down and proceeded to hoist her school bag over her shoulder and proceeded to walk out the door. What in God’s name nonsense did she just stumble upon today? Nevertheless, she would just walk out those doors and continue where she had left off in the school day. She had just recently entered highschool as a 1st Year after graduating, and the first thing she experience’s is some Simp Club. Feeling a soft tap on her shoulder, she turned around to face a curious looking person. 

“Where are you going, Senpai?” The bright eyed girl, with brown hair gave Ivy a questionable look. To be honest, in Ivy’s opinion...the girl was cute— short but not too short. The way her school skirt fluttered slightly to a chill. Her soft looking, milky— 

Did I just say milky??? THERE I GO AGAIN!! I’m drooling all over the place, like some stupid juvenile— I better just leave right NOW!

“Angela— use your honorifics properly, she’s a first year like you”, Moon explained while trotting her way towards Ivy, who was about to leave. “Where do you think your going Ivy?”

“Oh! It’s just I feel overwhelmed by the whole ‘thing’ and maybe we can sort all of this um— tomorrow?, I dont feel so good, and uh I was wonder why you know my brother-? wait never mind that’s a stupid question, anyways I’m gonna go now—“ Ivy spoke with such speed, it took a minute for the group to finally understand her.

“But it would be rude to not introduce yourself in front of the members! Plus they just arrived!” Moon pouted, then raised her right hand. Pinching two fingers together, “Just 5 minutes out of your time would be perfect! please?”

Of course, Ivy Banza didn't want to be rude. A little introduction won’t hurt. “I guess so—“ She then set down her school bag on the red couch.

As each girl approached her with some interesting introductions.

“Hey there! the name’s Jay- I’ll be your president for this year!” the girl smiled. Mere centimeters away, close enough so she could see the flecks of gold in Jay’s eyes. Ivy’s heart sped up as she took in her words and suddenly, Jay pulled Ivy’s chin to face her. She had unconsciously started to lean in, and had a hard time tearing her eyes from her lips. Jay stopped and released her. “You're pretty cute when you blush” she giggles. 

Ivy’s heart hitches, runs away from her to conduct the orchestra playing away in their brain. What’s this feeling? Why does her face look so— perfect? HEY- IVY WAKE UP!! AW CRAP- you literally just blushed by that stupid move—

“O-oh— um nice to meet you President— J-Jay” Ivy finally finds her words to speak.

“Enough with Jay, anyways I’m Rian Buenafe— don’t believe in what the others tell you, you can only trust me in this room.” The third member pushed her way through.

Ivy noticed the cat ears and tail right off the bat. Cat Lady? Ah! I shouldn’t say that— a tsundere? She seems like the type...

Rian scowls and frowns but sometimes she smiles and Ivy keeps each time deep in her mind but no matter her expression, Ivy thinks she's divine.

This must be what Icarus felt like when he chased after the sun, going higher and higher despite the burning heat and the knowledge of his inevitable fall. It must be worth it to go down in flames if it means that even just for a moment, he was so close to a star, in that single instance just before he fell, he became a god.

A student then pushes Rian aside, and kneels on one knee, looking up to Ivy. Takes her hand, and lays a gentle yet soft kiss against the back of her hand. The touch was soft yet very very very angelic— “My dearest maiden, you mustn’t call me Prince Charming yet! you shall me Caey. I am the Simp Clubs Alternate Officer”

Why does Ivy want to spend hours and hours of her days staring at Caey, Look, she wants to tell the world, but she knows she doesn't have to, Caey’s dazzling looks, she knows that the world will look at her and think perfect. Mere mortals are not needed by gods to reach the stars but that won't stop him from trying to help.

This isn't love. This is worship

“You’ve already met Moon our secretary, Lily the manager, and well..Angela our other trainee” Jay explained after everyone's introduction’s.

A long period of silence awoken, as Ivy’s stomach twisted and turned by the events.  
“Hm? You look red Ivy, do you need a glass of water?”

Ivy Banza shook her head sideways furiously.

“Hey where’s Gia? isn’t she supposed to be here?”

Moon scoffed with a slight of disgust, “She already told me she was gonna have a social affairs meeting today, so she won’t be attending”.

Gia? Another member..I wonder what she looks like..? Pretty? Goddess? Angelic?

Ivy swatted the thoughts away and focused on the problem she had to deal with now. Apparently she’s sitting on a couch in front of 5 other girls, glaring down at her, in a gigantic beautiful room, 7 in the morning—

How could things get possibly worse than this—?


	3. Japan is the only home I need!

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> We exist together and without each other- those in this space and when they are far. I want you and I don't know if I can hide it. - Unknown

((The summer before the school opening))

He wakes a little too early today(or so Cy thinks); the sun just barely breaking through the hazy blanket of darkness outside. It's only a quarter to six and he finds himself wide-awake in the silence that only soft breathing disturbs.  
He closes his eyes, tries to drift off again, imagines a princess swept off her feet, a prince, charming and sweet—

Cy is restless and even now, he can't—doesn't want to stay still. Being still is kept for solemn events and tidings, but this isn't one of them.

Twisting to his side, he eases himself up on his elbows and peeks outside through the curtains where they break and watches the sky in its hues of orange and fading gray. It's a familiar sight Cy has seen many times in his life but hadn't stopped to appreciate in a while. Between life's busy schedules and obligations, it had been easy to lose sight of the beauty of everyday life.

Today there's a light cover of fresh snow outside and a couple of cars drive by below but it's mostly quiet on this too-early weekday morning.

For once there isn't a schedule to get up for and there aren't any appointments(or so he thought). The nest is empty and it's a rare day of rest that teenhood hadn't allowed in a while. 

He watches the cars drive by for a few more minutes, but grows tired of it quickly. It's too cold to get up, but he can't sleep anymore.

His right knee aches a little and his bones know the seasons. Cy buries himself deeper under the blankets...drifting...off...to....

Today doesn’t feel right..did I plan anything today? It feels awfully quiet— pft haha it’s not as if I don't have any pla—

His phone started ringing.  
“Shit,” he yelled as he quickly got up. 

New Message — Brother  
Inbox: +15 other messages   
“Can’t wait for you to arrive in Tokyo,, me and Kaseh will be waiting at the front of the airport by the time you arrive! Have a good flight!! ❤️”

Cy really cursed himself, as he got out of bed. How in the world does one sleep in and forget they have a flight soon?? Anyways, he splashed cold running water on his face, before swapping his pjs with a pair of jeans and an oversized hoodie. Grabbing his luggage which was set the night before beside the front door. Jumped a few flight of stairs from his apartment building before grabbing a taxi—

——>> On flight now <<——

Cy made it in time for his flight, just barely. He finally got to relax for the rest of the airplane ride. Overlooking at the old messages sent from his brother, he drifted in his thoughts.

This is it Cy...you're gonna visit your brother and you’ll live happy there— 

It wasn’t that great for Cy during the past few years. Not after getting into a lot of money debt after the death of both of his guardians. His brother back in their home country is his only hope so far. Cy hadn’t traveled out of the States for a while, but hearing that he’ll get to meet his old friends sounds good. 

“Welcome to Tokyo, please remain in your seats as we take a landing, please ensure to have your seatbelts on—“ The speakers echoed, as the plane began to lower itself.

...

“CY CY CY!!!” the preppy girl's voice screamed and hollered for his attention at the front gates of the airport.

“Kaseh?? is it really you??” Cy dropped his bags and ran to hug the girl. Another man beside her watched as he laughed, softly.

“Brother?” Cy looked down(yes Cy is that tall—), at his small yet good-looking brother. Now Cy and his brother stand together among the crowd, all couples and families jostling back and forth to get to their flights. 

At his brother's height of 5,4. Cy is standing slightly in front of him, but when he observes how small he’s still stayed. Cy moves aside to stand behind him with a small smile on his face. Brother is ready to thank him for being so considerate, but really, in hindsight, he should have known better. He doesn't have any time to react before he’s been hoisted up into the air in public, and he swears to himself that Cy isn’t going to be forgiven for this, damn it all.

“W-what are y-you doing Cy?!?” brother kicked and squirmed before Cy put him down.

“Hehe sorry— I’ve missed you so much that I forgot about the times I used to pick you up—“

“Yeah yeah— anyways let’s get your luggage in my car, so we’ll head you to my place” his older brother claimed before grabbing Cyrcus’s suitcases.

...

The car was small— not to mention how horribly hot it was in there. The air conditioning system stopped working so they had to stick with window rolling.

“ughhhhhh Yumeda-kun, my armpits are sweaty, drive fasterrrr-“ Kaseh wailed in the backseat, where Yumeda followed Kaseh’s instructions to drive faster. Cy laughed a bit before looking out to the view outside...Japan really was a beauty. Kaseh was always his neighbour in Japan when he was younger, I guess you can say they couldn’t be separated— not after Cy moved to America after. 

“What highschool am I gonna attend, Yumeda?”, Cy realized as he turned to his brother at the wheel.

“You're gonna go with Kaseh, at Roman Academy, I mean it’s a great school. A lot of students get scouted from many universities if you attend there! Blah, Blah, Blah, yadda, yadda, yadda...” as Yumeda kept on driving. 

Roman Academy huh? Whatever school it was, at least he got to have Kaseh by his side. Cy hadn’t spoken japanese in awhile, but he might just have to refresh his memory a bit.

Yumeda stopped driving and parked outside of his humble home. Three of them stepped out to help with Cy’s luggage, before entering in. 

The moment Cy stepped in the house,,it felt as if every single aspect of his childhood flooded back into his mind. It seemed that Yumeda kept their childhood home and renovated it. 

“I kept a few things, but made new additions to the house! whaddaya think?” Yumeda smiled before setting down his car keys on a small tray by the door. “Oh! Kasih I’ll give you some bean curry before you leave- to thank your mom”. He then proceeded to the kitchen, putting an apron over him.

Kaseh waddled behind before she left the kitchen with a plastic container of the curry, “You want some help on unpacking?” 

“No no, I’m fine Kaseh..I’ll meet you tomorrow so we could catch up on anything!”

“You betcha— I have many things to say!” As Kaseh closed the front door, Cy could see through the living room window the way she ran across the street. Her house was so close, yet so distant.

Yumeda came back into the living room and insisted Cy leave his luggage to eat some proper dinner. 

Oh my— he didn’t even realize the time! Evening already?

After a good dinner of his brother's infamous bean curry and a couple of soju(Cy only drank one cup, Yumeda drank the whole bottle) Cy headed upstairs with his bags. 

Opening up his old bedroom, it felt comforting and warm to be in the same exact room he grew up with. Unpacking his things and belongings, he finally drops himself onto the bed. The smell of fresh sheets cradled him. Cy doesn’t remember what happens next, he probably drifted to sleep. This was home, the only home he could possibly think of.

...

Now Cy and Kaseh stand together among the crowd, all couples and families jostling gently to reach each other and get a better spot to view the fireworks. He’s still busy looking out into the ocean of people. He somehow stuck out like a sore thumb. His humongous height didn’t help any better. The Summer Festival came a few weeks later, it was the last day of summer vacation. He will start to go to classes tomorrow. Cy wasnt that worried.

“Oi Cyrcus, I bet you can’t beat me at that!“ Kaseh then pointed out to one of the gaming stalls. It was like one of those shooting games, but they use cheat tricks so you wouldn’t win. 

“I-I don't know- you wanna waste the allowance your mom gave you?”, Cy replied.

“Pff, it's fine! It’ll be one quick game”

The clinking of coins being exchanged to the game owner, gave both the teenagers a smug look, before handing the rifle to Kaseh. She asked if Cy wanted to take part in the blood bath, but he definitely resisted. She positioned her body leaning onto the table, closely examining the three empty milk jugs which were set on wooden chairs in the back. 

As shots fired, Cy didn’t pay attention. He glanced upwards to the fireworks illuminating the night sky. Beginning to ponder about what his school plans would be—. Nevertheless he would find school life a lot more odd here than how America educated students. Two different countries, two different systems. Which one was better? Cy will have to find out tomorrow—

“Whaddaya means I don’t get a prize! I literally shot those bottles half-dead!”, Kaswh slammed the rifle onto the table, glaring at the owner. 

Circus returned to reality, before he found himself pulling an angry Kaseh away from the game stall. 

“I told you..you shouldn’t have played the game in the first place!”, Cy claimed as they were walking home. The fireworks were over and mostly everyone was leaving for the night. 

“You're no fun Cy, at least have some competition in your life you know?”, Kaseh said. “Whatever the States did to you, made you a less happy person— your always sulking, and staring——

She wouldn’t understand...No one will understand...the pain I had to go through, the deal I had to exchange my happiness. But it was like hitting two birds with one stone. I could never be happy, no one can make me happy— I don’t deserve it. Why would anyone bother to stop, and ask if he’s okay. Anyways...what is happiness to Cy?

:  
:  
:

“Hey you look pretty tall for a first year like you! how about you join the basketball team for this year’s championship?”

“First year!? You're humongous! Join our track team!”

“Dude I think you need some more muscle work, please be in our cricket team”

“We need new blockers for our team and your height fits it perfectly! Join our volleyball team”

No, No, No! it wasn’t supposed to be like this. Just because of his height didnt mean he wanted to end up on someone’s stupid sport team. After declining at least every single sports club, he finally waited at the school entrance.

The first day of highschool! The flowers were blooming, and the air was crisp. Himself, Cy was able to reach the school early, so there weren't that many students. While he waited for Kaseh to arrive he examined the setting. The school was BIG, in fact very big that the school had to split up into two parts. The other school building was mostly all the club rooms and a couple of study halls. A bunch of clubs were already waiting for the first years to arrive, so they can get their grubby little hands on new members. Cy noticed one student who was pushed by some group of girls— but then the next thing that happened was that she was dragged to the back of the school. 

Should I help her? But it isn’t my business— what if they’re friends? I don’t know maybe they’re just joking around. But she looked so helpless. Maybe I should check up on——

His thoughts were cut off by the familiar voice he always heard during summer break. “Cy!!! Hey Hey! It's me!”, Kaseh dashed from the Academy’s gates to the entrance where Cy was standing. 

“Ah! Kaseh..your her—“ after being cut off again, the school’s bells ringed, a sweet low toned rhythm. Before he noticed all the third and second years headed inside. Kaseh intentionally grabbed his arm and pulled him inside. The Academy was much much bigger inside rather than the outside. It was like the real thing— how in the world did Yumeda get him in this school. Anyways, Cy and Kaseh were able to find their class on the second floor. Reading the signs above the doors.

Class 1 - A  
Welcome First Years!

The not so enthusiastic sign, wanted Cy to leave. Before being pushed into the classroom. Many first years already claimed some desks. But a few singled out ones remained in the back. 

Their sensei insisted the rest of the first years take place. 

After a long introduction, attendance was the one thing the teacher wanted from them.

“Kaseh?”

Here

“Yuzuki?”

Here

“Circus?”

Here...

“Angela?”

No response from the class...

“Seems like Angela is not here- how about Ivy? Ivy Banza?”

“Sorry teacher but her desk is empty as well”, a student claimed, pointing at an empty desk behind Cy’s.

Ivy Banza...

...

After many hours of tiring education, Lunch break occurred after. Too bad they were only 1 hour and an extra break of 30 minutes. But he didn’t complain...he met up with Kaseh near a bunch of benches at the school's field. After eating lunch, Cy noticed a big ass camera beside Kaseh.

“Where did you get that—?”

“Ah! I got scouted by the School’s Paper Club, so I was given the responsibility to take photos, just about everything!” Kaseh smiled while she focused the camera in front of Cy.

Click

She then proceeded to show the photo to Cy.

What the heck— I half-blinked

“It's okay you’ll get— QUICK GET DOWN” Kaseh lunged forward into a nearby bush, gripping the camera in hand.

“W-what’s happening- WOAH—“ Cy was dragged in the bush as well.

Before focusing his vision properly in the bush, he found Kaseh taking pics of a nearby girl walking on the campus grounds.

“What in the hell are you doing KASEH” Cy hissed quietly.

“I recently found this third year walking around the school grounds, they’re really pretty...or I guess that’s what everyone says. I wanna take pictures of them so I can have references”

“This is literally stalking and probably ILLEGAL—“, Cy said.

“pfff, who says? it's just a damn pic Cy..”

Kaseh then continued to take pictures 

Click, Click, Click

After watching Kaseh take the pictures, he noticed another girl lingering around Lily. But somehow, the two girls were coming closer and closer TO THIS EXACT BUSH! Kaseh noticed it as well, she hurriedly pushed the camera into Cy’s arms before pushing him out of the bush. Right....in....front....of Lily—

Here was Cyrcus sitting on the sidewalk covered in leaves, holding a camera, right in front of Lily. Cy dropped the camera in front of them.

The girl beside her, gasped before yelling, “What in the world are you doing in a bush with that camera— you couldn’t possibly be A PERVERT?!?”

“Sh Gia, I’ll handle this”, Lily then kneeled down, face to face with Cy. “explain yourself”.

“O-oh! Oh-had I uh m-my friend—

Of course Kaseh ran away and left me here. I don't want Kaseh to be in a bad position—

“I mean she gave me this camera to care of and—“

“You took pictures of me...You really are a pervert-“ Lily then flicked their fingers on Cy’s forehead before standing up.

“Let's settle this with a deal...I won’t tell the school board about your...camera problems, but you have to do something for me in return.”

What kind of deal was this— but he didn’t want to end up labeled as “Pervert” on the first day of school—

Suddenly, Lily stepped on the camera with a big crunch. 

“WHAT ARE YOU DOING—“, Cy yelled as he pushed Lily out of the way. It was too late obviously, the camera was obliterated into pieces. 

Oh how much trouble Kaseh would be in if the School found out about it—

“Hey don’t you dare lay a finger on me you buffoon—“ They turned and clicked their heel. “If you dont wanna agree with the deal I might as well head to the princi—“

“Fine I'll accept the deal..” Cy angrily said, still glaring down at the broken camera.

...

Cy remembered what Lily said before they left...”Room 202, Second Building”. 

He glanced at the classroom’s double doors. He needed to get Kaseh out of trouble and needed to keep his name clean. All he had to do was do anything Lily wanted. It couldn’t be that hard right? The doors opened unexpectedly, as a girl dashed out. Small yet, quick! As Cy proceeded to linger around the door.


	4. The Simp Club's Replacement Host!

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> I am so much more than that.  
> I do not love you, even yourself knows that. I love what you can do, your talent, your abilities. You give it to me. Everything.  
> Take me as I am.  
> I am yours.  
> \- Brii__elle

Gia wasn't stupid. She wasn’t really the top student of her year after all. But not obviously stupid.  
She knew that she had something going on for Oikawa San and she knew that she definitely had feelings for him but she also knew that the chances of them getting together anytime soon just wasn't happening. As she daydreamed about the Kendo Clubs president.

Her phone beeped during her Social Affairs Class, as she glanced at the text message from her beloved senpai.

New Message - Moon Senpai  
Are you going to the clubroom today?? or do you have a meeting—

Gia obviously answered saying that she won’t be attending, since she’s in a meeting.

She texts back to Moon, “Call in my substitute”

Gia would always have someone fill out her duties if she couldn’t meet up with the Simps Club. And that is of course, a close friend of hers from the Kendo Club. Gia closed her phone before focusing back on the lesson. She chuckled to herself, I wonder what will Kira do today—

...

“Oh! Gia texted back— ugh she wants me to call in Kira to replace her for today”, Moon’s smile disappeared as she looked at her phone.

“There’s nothing we can do—, we’ll hustle to the Kendo clubroom to get Kira”, Rian said before heading out of the Classroom.

Ivy didn’t know what to do at that point..should she just stay and watch or tag along like some lost puppy— She realized how she missed her first class due to some dumb Club. How horrible, but nevertheless she was the one who brought this tragedy to herself. 

Moon was able to tug Ivy Banza out of the room, down the staircase, and into the long school corridor. They were located in the schools second building not the main one. Finally Rain stopped at one of the classroom doors. Opening it, revealed a fricking entire dojo session of kendo fighting. Two competitors were already battling it out while the rest of the students in their gear watched on the sidelines. 

After the mysterious fighter “stabbed” their opponent, they finally stopped and removed their face armour. The way their hair swiftly turned and drooped, as beads of luscious sweat rolled down her thin neck. Eyes dark like the midnight sky, and her lips dark red.

This is not love because Ivy spends hours staring at how gorgeous this kendo fighter is. There is quickening heartbeats, somehow a flushed face, uncertainty.

This is not love.

Not what she feels for her. Not what they feel for Ivy. She wouldn't mind spending the rest of her life like this.

“Hey Kira! sorry to bother your club activities , but can you help substitute Gia’s spot for today?” Caey mentioned after Ivy’s little party in her mind.

“Ah! Uhhh I’ll check with Oikawa Senpai today”, Kira said as she wiped a bead of sweat away from her forehead. She glanced at a timid Ivy who was lingering beside Moon. “Don't tell me you got a new member— don't you think we have enough?”.

Moon then whispered something to Kira, where Ivy couldn’t possibly hear. 

“Right....well I’ll be back..” Kira slowly walked away from the club, to a very dashing man. Apparently from the conversation in the clubroom, he was Oikawa Tooru, the Kendo Club’s prestigious president. He was hot indeed, according to all the drooling students lingering near the club room’s door. 

“I guess that’s all for club activities! Remember to practice for Friday, now return to your school classes back at building one”, Oikawa said as he turned the spotlight towards him.

“Thank you, Senpai!” All the other students responded, they quickly turned to the locker rooms.

As the Simp Club waited for Kira to come out of the girl’s locker room, Ivy had a hard time thinking of the consequences of skipping classes. 

Pause:

Making things clear— Clubs at school can fill out a certain students timetable period depending on what club they join. For example, a student joins the Drama Club on the first day of school. He would then get a copy of his new timetable.

Time table at Roman Academy consists of 3 blocks of school, 1 hour of lunch and break, 2 more blocks of school, and +1 of club activities. Students who wish to not join any clubs would proceed with a normal schedule. But when club activities happens during a school period, students who don’t join any clubs will group with any non club members from another class.

Example Time Table: Random Student  
Period One: Science   
Period Two: Social Studies  
Period Three: Math  
Lunch   
Period Four: Art Club ( Yup, school blocks can be filled out with Club activities)  
Period Five: P.E

Continue:

Especially on her first day. Luckily, Jay said that there aren’t many teachers at Building Two, so they weren't really that into trouble. Who knew Ivy would be ending up with a stupid club during school hours. She didn’t even sign up for the club herself, she practically was FORCED! Sooner or later, Kira came out well dressed into the Roman Academy’s official school uniform. 

“So then, let’s head back to the club room?”

...

The school day rushed earlier than expected, and after school hours rolled in. Roman Academy allowed many clubs to stay at building two till 7 pm, under the supervision of their club president’s. Since Ivy spent the whole day “so called training” to be a host. She reluctantly got to watch the Simp Club work. And oh how it was very— very uh sexy? no I don’t think that’s the word, Kinky.

As the Club opened their doors to many customers(students who pay), they were eagerly waiting for their assigned schedule. Many of the students loved having Rian as their host— for some damn reason. All of the remaining girls in the club were able to have two customers at the latest.

The room felt hot- Or was it just her? The room was filled with a lot of hand touching, head pats, cheek kisses, sweet talk, yadda yadda— It was a whole new level of awkward— just sitting there, observing each and every aspect of the hosts. “Its best you observe so you get the hang of it”, they say. “You’ll be a great host!”. I'm tired, I don’t want to do this. Fuck those mishaps Tomoda did to this Club. Why in the hell should I replace him. Im not a fucking peice of toy they’ll play around with. I'm done, I'm leaving.

Before Ivy could stand up, “Uncomfortable?”, said a Kira who was casually hanging her arms around two customers. “I- um no, I mean—“, Ivy whispered. “Yeah I know, it’s tough at first, I remember being just like you! Dragged in the Simp Club for the first time”. Ivy felt no other difference, what was the point of being here? What did Tomoda do to this Club?

It was like a lot more pressure lay on her shoulders. She wanted to get out of that room as fast as she could— and to go back home.

.  
“Where are you running away Ivy?” were the last things Ivy could hear, before dashing out of that damn Club room.  
.

...

Ivy walked home that evening. The orange lighted sky was still out. The first breeze of autumn, swifted beneath her skirt. Streets empty, yet filled with the many colours of leaves. Clutching her school bag near her, Ivy starts to regret every little thing she did today. “I didn’t get to meet any of my classmates nor teachers today-“ she thought. “How stupid am I?”. 

She’ll have to meet the wrath of her mother when gets home. “kyaaa, I guess I’ll walk by the liquor store”, Ivy mutters. She knew many ways on how to knock her mother’s memories out. And Liquor was one of em’.

The store was small as usual, the distinctive smell roaming around. The electric fans helped it spread around. “Ah! Good evening, Ivy chan-“ the owner smiled at the front counter. “How was your first day of highschool?” was the one question that lingered in her head for a bit. “It was okay- can I get the red velvet for mother this time?”, she replied. Ivy rummaged into her school bag before placing her mother’s ID card onto the counter. “Tsk tsk, I’m guessing it’s bad this time, you usually buy liquor for your mother whenever you get bad grades'', the owner took the card and swiped it. “Not exactly...” she said under her breath. 

As Ivy was done paying, she moved to the side of the counter to neatly wrap the bottle in a brown bag. 

“I’ll pay for these-“, a young and tall boy said, before setting down a whole bottle of whiskey. To be honest in Ivy’s opinion, he was TALL! and the school uniform looked familiar— too familiar...

“ID?”, the owner asked.

The young student pulled out an ID card with a sticky note attached. The man read it.

“Oh! Your Yumeda’s brother!! The one from the states. I’ve heard of you from him haha”. The elderly man seemed to have chuckled before giving the student the bottle, after paying. “I’ll see you around the Circus? I think that’s your name-“. But the boy had already dashed out of the store, without a word.

Weird...

Ivy Banza returned home, fed her mother the booze before going to sleep. Now her mother won’t know that she is absent the entire day— Who knows what Ivy’s day will be like tomorrow...the only thing she needed to do was to avoid the Club at all costs.


	5. Not Tomorrow, but now

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Rue,,ahh sweet oh Rue. The prestigious and wonderful President of Roman Academy’s Drama Club. Caey,,the favourite kouhai who yet needs to understand feelings of those. What will they do?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay I’m back from the dead

When Rue wandered into their friend’s apartment in their first year of High School, they expected to simply work as a mangaka’s background artist in return for Drama Club scripts to showcase Caey’s princely acting skills. Yes,,,that is right. Rue has been claimed to be the ambitious president of Roman’s Drama Club. Along with Caey as her topstar. 

What Rue did not expect, however, is to make some of their greatest revelations about their romantic feelings during that time at their friend’s apartment.

“Rue-senpai,” **Peach said casually one day when she was trying to get inspiration for the next plot point in Bunni’s Let’s Love! 

New Character   
** Ayo it’s Peach!! she’s a profound manga artist attending Roman High. She joins various clubs such as Volleyball and Art. Draws her daily award-selling manga “Bunni’s Let’s Love!” after school, as well as write scripts for the Drama Club**

“How did it feel for you to get confronted by your feelings about Caey from Mikoto?(a random student idfk) Tell me about your revelation in detail, please.”

Rue’s eye twitched at Peach whipping out her notebook and staring at her intently, her pencil posed to jot down notes. 

“I don’t have feelings for Caey.”

“Even after realising she is your ideal girl?”

“Face,” Rue corrected quickly. “I just like her face. She’s amazing at attracting attention from both girls and guys – that’s our Caey for you –, she has guts to take the stage and the acting skills to back it up, she’s the most obedient towards me if you minus the club skipping, and she’s just incredibly smart and cheerful… I could stare at her all day… but I don’t… like her… at all…”

Rue buried their face in their hands, feeling it’s face flush red as they were struck by yet another revelation about their feelings towards Caey Virgo in that apartment. “Oh for fucks sake....I think I do have feelings for Caey.”

Peach nodded sagely. “Senpai, you should listen to your heart. Confess to Caey and tell her how you feel.”

‘Peach…’ Rue thought, momentarily touched. ‘I guess… as a best-selling shoujo mangaka, you do know how to give love advice after all.’

Then Peach offered Rue a camera, ruining the moment. “Help me take some reference photos of her face when you confess, please.”

Although Rue initially turned down Peaches suggestion furiously and threatened to stop drawing backgrounds for her.

(“S-Senpai, I was wrong, please forgive me!!”), the idea was planted at the back of Rue’s mind. 

At first, it seemed like it was an absurd idea – he didn’t even like Caey, not that way, and it was much too troublesome: 

Caey would be shower Rue with more affection than she already does, her fangirls will hate them, all the members of Drama Club and literally everyone Rue knows will tease them.

But the more they thought about it, the more merits Rue saw in... confessing to Caey.

Firstly, it was practical and productive. With Caey taken off the market, there will be lesser fangirls hanging around her, lesser disruptions in club time, lesser time spent cleaning their mess and chasing them out during club practices… which in turn lead to more time for actual practices.

Secondly, there would be more peace and quiet. While Caey might shower Rue with affection, she would finally stop badgering them about who their favourite kouhai is, and stop with her extravagant over-the-top antics at proving that she is Rue’s favourite (because she already is).

And lastly, perhaps the biggest reason (though Rue will deny it even being a reason), is that Rue will stop being distracted her. Admittedly, there are many things to be distracted about by her – by thinking of her face, her smile, her eyes, how soft her skin looks despite her princely persona, how nice would be to reach up, bring her face down, and kis–

And then Rue will all but slap themselves, burying their face in their hand and try to will themselves through sheer willpower alone to stop thinking, stop thinking, you idiot.

First Confession Attempt:

Despite Rue’s internal conflict and back and forth with the pros and cons of confessing to Caey, the plan was set in motion.

They marched up to her during rare day after-school with no drama practice.

“Caey!”

“Senpai?” Caey turned from her locker, a smile stretching from ear to ear as soon as they made eye contact. Rue tried to not feel embarrassed.

“I got something to say,” they said, hoping they sounded more confident than they looked.

“Oh?”

“I like!” Rue started, then felt the tips of their ears turning red. “I like…! …Pasta.”

“Eh?!” Her smile grew wider. “Senpai too?! There’s a great café near by the train station that recently opened, and they have a tea-time special for it!”

“Oh, is that so?” Rue said in a flat voice, mentally kicking themselves.

“Really!” she exclaimed, hefting her bag over her shoulder with one hand, her another hand grabbing their arm. “Let’s go get it now!”

Rue ignored the fluttering of their heart at their linked arms. “Unhand me, Caey, I can walk – !”

“Let’s hurry before it gets too crowded!”

That night, Rue went home after their not-date that they enjoyed more than they should, but feeling the weight of their first failed confession.

Second;

At their next attempt, Rue does it in the most straightforward way possible.

“Caey,” they declared during their daily walk after school towards the train station. “Listen.”

“Yes, senpai?”

“I like you.”

Caey stopped in her tracks. Then she faced Rue and clasped their hand between hers, her eyes quivering with what looked like a single tear.

“I’m so happy!” she said, her voice thick with emotion. “Thank you… sweet prince!”

‘Prince?’ Rue blinked, their brain in overdrive.

Caey dropped their hand, her eyes clear without a trace of those (stage) tears, beaming. “The confession scene from The Princess and The Prince script, right? I didn’t think you would have picked that!”

“You thought I was… doing improv?”

She nodded enthusiastically. “Acting the scenes out would give you a better feel of the scripts, right?”

Then it clicked for Rue – just now during club time, the club was deciding between two scripts to act out for their upcoming play: one was a regular one about a prince lost at sea, and another was about a prince rescuing a princess and forming an alliance between the two nations. Caey had taken Rue’a confession and treated it as an improv from the latter script.

Rue felt crushed.

Oblivious to their dampened mood, Caey laughed happily as she continued walking towards the station. “I’m so happy to be able to act out a scene with senpai! It’s been so long since I’ve seen you act~”

–

The next day, when they lamented their failed two confessions to Peach, Mikoto popped out from behind the kitchen counter.

Rue startled. ‘Crap, Mikoto is here too, now he’ll tell Caey and then – ’

“Senpai!” Mikoto chided before Rue’s mind went into overdrive. “Didn’t anyone tell you? Actions speak louder than words!”

The redhead walked from the kitchen towards Peaches living room with drinks, plonking down and shaking his head. “Everyone knows the best way to confess is to grab the fair maiden and give her a romantic kiss!”

“Oh,” Peach said in agreement. “Did you get that from that love therapist website Mikoto?”

“Dr. Love always tell the best advice Peach…”

“I’m not going to be doing any kissing!” Rue said furiously over the two’s discussion.

“Ah, senpai!” Mikoto and Peach cried in fear of Rue’s anger (that was usually directed to Caey and not them). “We were wrong!”

‘Me? Kissing Caey? What a horrible suggestion!’ Rue thought angrily to themselves long after they left Peaches apartment, but at the back of their mind, Mikoto’s words were planted.

Third:

The next day or so, when Rue and Caey arrived at school together, Rue mustered their courage.

“Oi, Caey,” They called.

Caey, after placing her outdoor shoes back in her shoe locker, turned around and smiled. “Yes, senpai?”

Rue gulped, Mikoto’s words ringing in their ears. ‘Grab the fair maiden and give her a romantic kiss!’

Tey took a step closer to Caey, admiring how beautiful her eyes were.

“You got something in your hair,” Rue said quietly, raising their hand and brushing a stray strand of hair away from her face. Their fingers lingered near the side of her face, and just as Rue was about to lean in…

The first warning bell rang.

“Oh no!” Caey exclaimed. “I have a pop quiz right after homeroom. See you later, Rue-senpai!”

In a flash, she was gone.

Rue cursed their luck.

During lunch time, Rue intentionally took the longer route towards the cafeteria – the route that would lead them past the Year One’s block. They scanned the hallways, and they immediately spotted a head amid adoring fangirls.

As luck would have it, Caey glanced up and spotted Rue, making a beeline towards them (“Caey-kun!” her fangirls cried in dismay in the background).

“Senpai!” she greeted. “Want to have lunch together?”

Rue nodded grateful that things were going their way, and as they were walking towards the cafeteria, Rue was already devising their plan. They would get Caey to buy a takeaway bento with them, and as they take their lunch outside to the gardens, Rue would kiss her without prying eyes.

“Yo, Caey!” a boisterous voice called. There was a gust of wind and Kira appeared, grabbing Caey’s arm.

“Rue-chan,” Kira nodded at Rue.

Rue’s eyebrow twitched. “Don’t forget to use right honorifics – ”

“I’ll be taking Caey with me,” Kira declared as they began to drag Caey with them. “Come on, Gia is waiting.”

“Eh?” Caey apologetically looked over her shoulder at Rue. “Sorry, senpai! See you during Drama Club!”

Rue was too stunned to remind her to not skip, and could only stare as Kira dragged her off, feeling the start of a headache.

–

During club time, despite Caey being obedient and not skipping for once, Rue felt their headache worsen.

“Rue-chan!” a club member yelled. “I heard from Caey-kun that you decided to pick The Prince and The Princess?”

“President! That’s amazing; I liked that script better than the sea one!”

“No, I haven’t decided – ”

“Since that script has two main characters, who is gonna act as the princess?”

“I nominate Rue-chan-senpai for the role of the princess!” Caey cried in the sea of voices.

Unable to control their rage, Rue grabbed the nearest script and threw it at Caey. “I’m not a fucking actor!”

“Wah! The president is mad!” the Drama Club members cried.

As luck would have it, the script Rue threw at Caey was The Prince and The Princess. After Rue begrudgingly decided to give that script a try and allowed for things to calmed down, Caey began to read through the prince’s parts. But something was off.

“Caey doesn’t seem to fit the role of the prince in this script, doesn’t she?” Rue’s stage director mused.

Another club member nodded. “Caey-kun usually fits the prince roles, but in this case…”

The members looked thoughtfully at the script. It was about a responsible and no-nonsense prince who needed to find the princess of the neighbouring nation to form an alliance for the sake of both nations. But the princess, a wild and flamboyant character, was kidnapped and imprisoned in a tower. The story revolves around both characters equally, and ended with the prince finding the princess and living happily ever after in a loving marriage that saved both nations.

“Caey-kun~” a drama club member called from below the stage. “Try the role of the princess!”

Caey obliged, modifying her acting to fit that of the princess. “Sweet prince, have you come to save me from this tower? Are you going to start proposing to me~? Oh, you’re embarrassed? How cute.”

As she spoke with the aura of a playful, flamboyant princess, she seemed to dazzle under the spotlights and have blue roses blossom behind her.

“Kyaaa!” the members squealed. “Caey-kun~!”

The members began to clamour for Caey to act as the princess. Rue protested, citing how it was difficult to find another actor who could come near Caey’s acting ability and share a stage with her as prince.

They began to get random members to read through with Caey, but either the chemistry wasn’t there, or Caey’s skills overshadowed the other lead.

“I know!” Caey exclaimed after a few unsuccessful read throughs. “Rue-senpai can stand it as the princess!”

“Mocking me again?!” Rue resisted the urge to cluck something at her.

“Wait, Rue-chan!” his vice-president exclaimed. “Caey has a point."

"Not you as well!"

"No, I meant that you can stand in as the prince!”

Rue protested again, but the rest of the members were taken by the idea. After all, the only one who had the acting abilities to stand as a lead and be on par with Caey’s skills was Rue themselves. Thus, despite their protests, the club members shoved Rue next to Caey to do a read through.

“Princess,” Rue said, looking at the script. “You ought to stop running around and start taking care of your nation. This is why that witch decided to kidnap you; you were an easy target.”

“Oh~?” Princess Caey winked. “Are you worried about me, sweet prince? How about you climb up this tower and teach me a thing or two about taking care of a nation?”

After a few lines, the rest of the club were sold – they were insistent on casting Rue and Caey was both leads. Not only did they both shine on stage with good chemistry, and what better way than to have a play where Rue was the lead alongside their favourite kouhai? (“She’s not my favourite!”)

“It would look bad,” Rue protested again. “For the prince to be shorter than the princess.”

The stage director gestured towards the script, citing how the prince and princess don’t really share a stage together until the last scene, where the princess was trapped in a tower and the prince tries to rescue her. As Caey would be in a tower and Rue on the ground, they wouldn’t be standing next to each other, making the height difference not an issue.

“And even in the end,” the stage director said. “The prince romantically carries the princess over his shoulder and whisks her off, so the height difference doesn’t show at all!”

Rue cursed Peach in their head for writing such a script.

Rue made another weak protest about how the stage set was going to be tough to manage if they were acting.

“Don’t worry! We can handle the props! And recycle props from our previous play!”

Caey was over the moon at the prospect of acting with . “To share a stage with senpai…!”

“Okay,” Rue found themselves agreeing with the others at last. “We’ll go with the script and the cast line-up. Caey will act as the princess, and I will act as the prince.”

Fourth:

“Oh, senpai, you’re still here.”

It was after that very tiring drama practice, and after settling both Rue and Caey as the leads and trying to cast the rest of the side characters. Rue was sitting in front of the stage, languidly using the stage as a rest for the back of their head.

Rue glanced up, and right above their head was Caey, peering at them from above. The dark shadow cast over her face made her eyes glitter, and her hair framing her face made her look regal.

‘This is why Caey always looks good, even from prince to a princess,’ the traitorous voice at the back of Rue’s head sang.

“Oh?” Rue blinked. “Why are you wearing a wig?”

“I felt so bad taking it out so soon after the girls’ effort in styling my hairstyle.” She smiled at him serenely, her eyes making half-moons. “The girls were trying to recreate the look you gave me a while back when you played with my hair.”

‘Yes,’ Rue thought to themselves, ‘The look that made me realise that you are my ideal girl as well.’

Rue stayed silent, staring into her eyes, realising that damn, Caey had really pretty eyes, and they really, really, liked them.

‘But then again, you like everything about her,’ a voice at the back of his head sang. Rue batted it away.

Caey gracefully leaped down from the stage, taking a step beside him. “Rue- senpai, let’s go home together! Since it’s going to be the weekend, we can stop by a café and get those parfaits, and deepen our princess and prince rapport – ”

“I like you, Caey.”

It came out almost on reflex from numerous practicing with Peach and the rest during manga assistant work.

A second ticked by, and Rue decided to roll with it.

“This isn’t improv. I’m saying it to you, Caey.”

The usually talkative Prince, for the first time since Rue knew her, was rendered speechless.

“S-Senpai – ?!”

Rue turned to her, noting with small pleasure at her flushed face, eyes widened in shock, and the back of her hand reaching up to cover her mouth. It’s not often he gets to see her being shy, he thinks to himself.

“I like you,” they repeated, taking hold of her wrist and leaning closer to her.

Rue’s other hand brushed her bangs out of her flustered face, and with Peach and company’s advice ringing in his head (‘Just grab the fair maiden and give her a romantic kiss!’), they began to slowly bring their face closer to hers.

… And all of a sudden, with the strength of the best sportsman among the Year Ones, Caey wrenched her arm out of Rue’s grip, and bolted upright.

“S-Senpai!” she laughed almost a bit hysterically. “Look at the time! I promised my mom I would be home earlier to help her with cleaning I-I must be going now! I’ll return the wig back right away and leave! See you on Monday, senpai!”

In a whirl and jumbled up words, Caey flew past them, and by the time they got their bearings back, Caey was gone, leaving Rue feeling as if they were rejected.

–

“Ah, Senpai,” Mikoto said to them in a voice loaded with pity – an emotion that Rue did not want to people to feel for him, much less Mikoto, Mr. Unrequited Love , out of all people. “That was really out of character for Caey-kun, wasn’t it?”

After that disastrous failed confession, Rue immediately went to Peaches house, hoping that drawing backgrounds will take their mind off Caey. As luck would have it, Peach did not need background art (“My headline isn’t soon!”), and Mikoto was there, lapping up the romantic gossip. 

Rue grinded their teeth and forced themselves to not unload thier complicated feelings at anyone in Peaches apartment right now. They dropped their head on the table, cursing their luck to fall for the Prince of the school.

“But then…”

The tone of Mikoto’s voice made Rue lookup.

He tapped his finger against his chin thoughtfully. “During class-breaks we do talk about her feelings… And Caey-kun really does seem to like you, Rue-senpai!”

Rue felt their heart begin to soar. They glanced at the boy with newfound gratefulness. “Mikoto…”

“But then again, Caey-kun says it with such a straight face, I don’t know whether to take her seriously or not!”

Rue dropped their head on the table again, feeling their headache from since the morning worsen exponentially.

vii. 

After that very disastrous confession, endless teasing and equal amount of advice from Peach and company, Rue was left feeling awkward and unsure of how to talk to Caey.

“Yo, Caey, sorry for confessing to you – how about we forget that ever happened?” Was not a conversation Rue wanted to have with her, ever.

To make matters worse, Rue had no way to avoid her – they see each other during daily commutes to school, Caey won’t ever stop calling out to them when they are near the vicinity of each other in school, they were in the same after-school club, and they share a stage as leads for the upcoming play.

And that meant that in multiple times of the day, Rue was at a loss of words to say to Caey.

“You’ve been cold to Caey-kun lately, Rue-chan,” the Drama Club members commented. “Did you two fight?”

“That’s not the way to win Caey-kun’s heart, Rue-senpai,” Mikoto chided.

“You’re scaring her away, senpai,” even Peach, king of denseness in romance, threw in.

One day after classes and just before the start of Drama Club, in the midst of Rue trying to sort out his feelings and figure out how to treat Caey normally again, his classmate gave him intel that Caey was seen running away from school.

Muscle memory kicked in. Rue began to work in autopilot. “CAEY-”

With amazing speed, Rue sprinted from the Year Two block towards the lawn, finding Caey in the process of running away from school (without her usual entourage surrounding her).

“Where do you think you’re doing?!”

“Ah, senpai, let me go…!”

“Not when we should be practicing for the play – you’re one of the leads, you need to take it seriously – !”

Today, she seemed to be struggling more than usual.

“You don’t even want to have anything to do with me!”

Rue stopped in their tracks. Deciding that her skipping was more than a playful slacking off this time, they hoisted Caey over their shoulder and picked her up effortlessly, ignoring her protests and taking her all the way to the nurse’s room.

Once there, Rue threw her down on the edge of the nurse’s bed and towered over her, crossing his arms and staring down at her. (Ah, yes, from above – his favourite angle to see Caey’s face.)

“Ha, ha,” Caey said nervously, scratching the side of her face and averting her eyes from his. “Were you practicing the last scene where the prince picks up the princess to escape from the tower, senpai?”

They ignored her, opting to glower at her in silence.

Caey sat at the edge of the bed, her eyes averting his. “W-What is it, Rue-senpai?”

For once, Rue had a taller vantage point over Caey. They intended to make full use of it. Rue inched closer to her, hands resting at the edge of the bed on her left and right, trapping her between their arms.

“Caey,” they said slowly, forcing her to look at nowhere but them.

She slowly lifted her eyes to meet theirs.

“Tell me what you are upset about.”

“N-Nothing, I just wanted to skip practice and go get parfaits with the girls – ”

They clicked their tongue at the roof of their mouth, edging even closer to her. Caey shrank back, and each time she did, they stepped even closer. They were so close Rue could feel the heat radiating from her body and see the gold flecks in her eyes.

“Stop lying to me, brat. Your ‘girls’ weren’t even around.”

She swallowed. “… I… didn’t want senpai to be upset at me… After that… that day when I left senpai alone, you’ve been… not talking to me.”

‘That’s because I didn’t know how to face you,’ Rue screamed inside theie head. ‘Especially since you were the one to run away from me when I told you I liked you.’

On the outside, Rue opted for simply glaring at her.

“I didn’t want to go for practice with Rue-senpai being so distant from me, so I…”

“Oi,” they interrupted, climbing onto the bed to edge closer to the Caey who was still leaning away. By then, Caey was all but lying on the bed, staring up at Rue who was towering over her from above, caging her frame within.

This really was their favourite angle to view Caey’s face in, they almost unconsciously thought, looking at the handsome face beneath. 

“I like going to Drama Club with you,” Rue said. “I like going through lines with you, doing club activities with you, and watching you act. So don’t go running away, or I’ll catch you back just like I always do.”

“Rue-senpai.....NGH,,get off of me!” Caey unexpectedly pushed Rue’s weighted body off of her’s.

Stunned by the sudden change of positions. Caey stood up leaving Rue resting on the bed instead. 

“I can’t like you that way...no matter how much I actually do..I just can’t.”

“and why is that??? did I do something-“

“It’s not you Rue-senpai, it’s just me...what if Lily-kun finds out that we confessed to each other?”

“who the hell said “we”??” Rue cursed as they pulled themselves off the nurses bed. 

“I do like you...Senpai” Caey had brought herself to say. “But...”

She then grabbed Rue’s hand and placed it against her chest.

“I love my place at the club more than I ever will love you, I don’t wanna upset Lily-kun”

Both Rue’s arms are in front of them, but one remains close to Caey’s chest, – a respectable distance from Caey’s body. 

Rue swallows, hoping that the sound wasn’t as audible as it seems to be, their eyes zeroing in on both of their feet. If only so Rue doesn’t find themselves lost (again) just because if they look up a few centimeters they’d be seeing Caey’s smiling face too close for freaking comfort.

“You don’t look fine, senpai,” Caey says, tilting Rue's chin up so she could look at them.

Crap, there it is, there it is – she’s not smiling, though, she’s genuinely worrying for them, worrying, so help them god, for whether or not their back could handle, and why oh why does their heart choose this damned moment to get lodged in their throat?

“C-can you give me some time to process?” Rue finally spoke.

Caey nodded by the sudden response and nodded glumly.

Everything was falling apart...Rue was in a state of shock for good. They didn’t know what to say, feel, hear. Or was this some stupid prank. Or maybe a “Haha April Fools!!!” oh for fucks sake it’s not even April to begin with.

Rue had planned with Caey that they would meet afterschool for a brief yet private conversation.

.  
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The leaves fall, and they crunch under the weight of their feet. Two teenagers walk home in the chilly, November night. Theatre practice ended two hours ago, and they had just left the school that the taller of the two insisted they simply had to go inside.

It was already dark outside, and the moon shone brightly above. The days were getting shorter

After such grim events in the Nurses Office the two were somehow silent for once, no single-

“Senpai, look at the stars!”

Was she trying to avoid the conversation that afternoon? Trying to keep their cool, Rue went along with it..

It was strange, how cold it was and how the stars shone brightly despite it. The further they wandered and the closer to home they got, the easier it was to see.

Rue followed Caey as she ran ahead towards a small hill on the side of the road. The grass eventually became steps, providing a place to sit and run around near the fenced off river.

“Let’s stay here for awhile,” she decided,  
It was strange, really, how cold it was and how warm they felt sitting next to her despite it.

They laid on the ground, staring at the constellations. It was a calm, quiet moment, and Rue knew they could easily fall asleep right there, next to her, and it would be easy .

But they didn’t.

“I can’t like you that way...no matter how much I actually do..I just can’t.”

The phrase just kept on repeating itself inside Rue’s mind, attacking her feelings for the kouhai.

Cawy was quiet (for once), and Rue had to glance over to make sure she didn’t doze off.

It almost distracted from the sudden feeling of Rue’s heart dropping out of their chest.

Rue turned towards the stars again.  
There were millions of stars in the sky, and Rue didn’t want to be just one of them. Caey had countless fans, and if he was just a princess, wouldn’t that mean they would be lost within their numbers as well?

God, Rue wanted to punch the air right there and now. How could they let some stupid host club get in the way of Caey and their relationship? Since both of them are hosts they were forbidden to show signs of real affection. If they were to leave the club, lots of customers would wonder why and spread some pretty nasty rumours of them.

Whatever the situation I am in with you, I will still you

Rue wishes they could say it. Rue wishes they could let her know.

Rue feels themselves falling asleep again, despite their mind being in turmoil. There is something so comforting about laying next to her with the stars shining above their head.

“I want to be your everything.”

Rue doesn’t mean to say it; only meant to think it. But Rue’s tired, and it’s too quiet, and maybe just thinking too loud.

The air is still frozen between them, and they think maybe they’re slowly slipping into a dream. Maybe Rue really did keep quiet. Maybe they just never said it at all, or maybe, hopefully, Caey didn’t hear them.

She laughs, and it’s a beautiful sound, but Rue’s heart rate picks up again and then blinks away the fatigue to look at her.

“You are.”

Her smile is bright, and happiness dances in her eyes and Rue still can’t tell if they were dreaming, but they reach for her hand anyway.

"You are my everything."

“What?” Rue leans back up, facing Caey.

“You are my everything if it weren’t fpr that host club” Caey laughs in her respond. “Look Rue, I know you want to continue our well...-relationship to something else but...”

“Yeah I get it...Lily”

“It’s not only Lily...I want you to receive the best Rue!”

Rue stands up and faces Caey at an angle above. “Cant you listen to yourself Caey? The reason why I tried so fucking hard to show my feelings? Cant you see that I fucking love you??!?!?”

...

“I love you too Rue”

“Then let’s make something work here! Would you rather just see yourself waste your entire life away for some stupid ass club?”

“But I liked being in the Host Club...”

“...I can’t force you Caey...if this is what you want then fine...”

Rue then starts to walk away from the grassy hill scenery leaving Caey speechless.


	6. Precious

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Lily collects people. Meets Cy and reminds them of a certain someone in their life. The past catches up with their reality.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Awooga awooga dancing on my dead body apparently

Lily understands the importance of having a complete collection. After all, anything that is incomplete diminishes in value and cannot hope to be as well thought of as something whole. Not only that but something whole, something so perfectly fit together and complete is a wonder to behold. Some commoners, Lily has recently learned, collect stamps and coins the way they collect people. 

Lily wants to know every kind of person and see them and know them. Before a certain student, which in a way was when they lived an entirely different kind of life altogether so Lily thought of that time like most other people thought of the time before Christ, it meant something but they didn’t think about it all that much. 

But before Cy, they thought they knew all the types of people that made up the world, and now they know that their world had been very, very small.

Their collection is much the same. Like a beginning stamp collector who had filled a small portfolio with ready at had stamps, they thought their collection impressive and off to a very good start only to find that they had a very long to way to go. At first Lily was daunted by the idea of having to collect more people, to expand that far and do so much. Then themselves had calmed down, after fretting and worrying, and realized that they needed not to collect everyone. That was surely too much for one person, even a person as wealthy and well connected as Lily, to do. No, what they must do is find the rarest kind of people and come to know them.

“Hello? is this the Simps Club?”

A bustling crowd turned their mere heads to face the tall-like figure clothed in his un-ironed school uniform, standing by the Club’s doors.

As soon as Jay saw Cy, she immediately entered Lily’s office. “Lily-kun, the boy is here..”

“Give me a moment-“ Lily sighs as they stand up from their desk. They honestly had almost forgotten about the boy’s peeping skills earlier that day, and proceeded to tell him to meet them at the Club room.

Cy sat on the plush couch with four pretty girls sitting with him. The girls seemed to inch closer and closer to his face, hot steamy breaths prickling the tiniest sensors in his skin.

"So why do you wear your hair that way?" Moon asked with a smile. "How do you dye it without destroying it?"

"This is actually my natural hair color," Cy replied bashfully.

"And your scar?" Gia asked, scowling"It must have been painful."

"I'd rather... not talk about it," Cy dodged. He'd discovered long ago how to avoid discussions about his scar: act like it hurt when people brought it up, and people tended not to bring it up anymore after.

Moon had assured to the three girls to apologize for asking and changed the subject. These questions Allen was able to answer without any trouble.

“Well Cy, it seems a pleasure to meet you!” Moon exclaimed giggling “Oh! I’m so sorry I have to tend my customers”

“Psh, as if I’ll stick around with a pervert-“ Rue quickly got off the couch, avoiding Caey.

“But I didn’t-“ Cy stuttered

“Lily told us the news idiot”

Cy was left with one girl on the couch, who didn’t seemed to mind Cy’s presence. He then asked her, “how are u?”.

“Do you think I should move schools? just a simple question” Caey asked looking up to face Cy.

Never in his years had he seen such a lifeless face. She looked so sad, yearning emotion at some point. Eyes pale, no flecks of light shone. God, who hurt her?

“I-I don’t know...if you want to then do it” Cy replied still questioning on why Caey had asked.

“Thank you for the advice...Cy” Caey smiled as she left the couch.

“It seems your enjoying yourself with the other hosts”

He turned behind the couch to face the owner themselves. Uncomfortable with the attention he was inevitably about to receive, Cy busied himself with thoughts of how the room seemed more like a glorified lounge than a music practice space. Aside from the generous amount of plush, upholstered furniture, there were also several carved wooden tables and chairs placed tastefully about the area.

"Oh, what? It's just some dude?" Jay sighed as she collapsed onto a chair that looked more refined than she did.

“Like I said Jay, I’ll handle the pervert myself” Lily said sternly, looking back at Cy with darting eyes.

Lily led Cy to their office,closing the door. “Please sit,,,Cy”

The office was quite small, decorated with a dark coated wall. Library shelves completely dominating the walls. Intrigued by the sudden antiques placed on Lily’s desk, as well as the gold-plated name sign, “Lily Akiyama : Simp Club Official Founder”.

“Welcome to Roman Academy’s Simp Club!” Lily rejoiced, jumping a little in their chair. Making cute little faces, before their eyes turned to Cy. “God, what the fuck am I gonna do with a scumbag like you”, her face changed more grimly. Setting their chin ontop of their hands to create somewhat a dominant feeling.

Cy laughed nervously, “h-how about we go over the deal we made...You know how you said-“

“Ah! now I remember,,,I want you to be my pet” Lily said it with such ease it was that hard to believe from the face they gave.

“p-p-pet??!?” 

“I said what I said, and I meant it...you are to remain in this club serving me, as I will pamper you in my care :)” Lily asserted calmly. They reached into their desk’s drawer and slid a collar across. A gleaming black leathered collar contrasted by the silvery hanging peice that included the engraved words of “pet” faced Cy from below.

“Please wear it when you enter the clubroom, as you will call me ‘master’ from time to time”

“W- NO I WONT WEAR ANY OF THAT SH*T! Anything but that I WON’T OBEY!” Cy slid out of his chair.

Lily grabbed his face by one hand and slapped his cheek. The stinging pain dwelled into his cheek, red and hurtful.

“How dare you speak back to your master, if you don’t agree to my arrangement I will either spill all those photos you took of me that time and get you expelled or maybe you want to be a good pet for me?” Lily smiled smugly.

Cy couldn’t believe it! He was being manipulated and tricked into some shitty ass club! God he wanted to cry right there and then. But it was the only way to keep Kaseh out of trouble.

“y-yes m-master” Cy squeaked out 

Lily then proceeded to tie the collar around Cy’s neck, and patted his head afterwards.

“Well anyways I-“ Lily continued as they were interupted again by the screams and shouts of the mere girl customers.

“Lily-senpai, the School Council is here for the daily inspection- “ Rue said as they loomed into the office.

“I thought inspection was agreed for next week? Why the hell is **Tuna running back here?” Lily stood up from their chair and ran out of the office followed by Rue.

Two girls were identified by the red couches as they searched the room. Lifting up certain peices of artifacts and furniture. 

“**Yuri do you see anything here?” Tuna exclaimed as she picked up a vase wiping off the dust.

“President I don’t think so, but all I found was this really sensitive magazine that has a sticker called ‘+18’ hiding in one of the couches”

**New Characters:  
Tuna and Yuri -   
Tuna is President of the Student Council and absolutely despises the Simp Club for their flirtatious behaviour, and has broke a deal with Lily to inspect their clubroom every three weeks. Yuri is the new-elected vice president and the most trusted person to Tuna. Recall that Tuna is a Third year as Yuri sets in as a second year**

“What in fucks name are you doing Tuna? You’re supposed to inspect NEXT WEEK-“ Lily yelled in frustration, gripping the sides of her hips.

“Im sorry Lily, but obviously a few complaints are coming from the Recreation Garden Club that your hiding various items such as drugs? as well as antacid”

“Antacid?!? OH FOR- no I don’t sell drugs to my customers neither do any of my hired hosts” Lily explained 

Tuna gave a stern look to Lily before lifting up a bag of antacids hiding underneath one of the sidetables. Everyone gasped as well as the customers who gave confused, disgusted looks to Lily.

“Is that so? Lily Akiyama?, you know ever since we were first years you always acted up near that Maya girl, I wonder why she left the school. You and your drug addict-“

Kira had pushed a customer onto the floor between Lily and Tuna. “Guess one of our CUSTOMERS is part of the Recreation Garden Club, making up stupid rumours and hiding peices of it under our noses, found her bag filled with antacid packets”

Lily bent over to the scared student who had covered their face from humiliation. Lily grabbed their pale cold hands and lifted them slowly off her face. She seemed to be embarrassed and pushed Lily away. In which Lily grabbed the customer by the cheek. 

“Are you trying to upset me and my club?”

“P-pLEASE spare me! My president got so jealous over how much the school funds your club..and they wanted to sabatoge it-t” The customer blubbered before kneeling down to Lily’s shoe.

“What an amazing performance you just pulled Akiyama...I will be then reporting the Recreation club to the headmaster” Tuna swiftly removed her rubber gloves and packed the antacid into a container. Yuri then gave back the magazine into Rue’s hands.

“But this isn’t mine so how about you throw it away-“ Rue pushed it back.

“Just take the damn magazine idiot, wether it’s yours or not. I don’t want it” Yuri pleaded.

After Lily comforted the Recreation member they led her out of the clubroom to wash up. The Student Council left to present the antacid to the school board.

The Simp Club had stopped working hours early, due to the confusion of drugs. Everyone had then left, leaving some of the hosts to pack up.

“How come your more distant to Rue what happened? Did you two fight?” Kira whispered into Caey’s ear. “n-no..i’m just tired from doing improv scripts last night”.

“Hey Lily-Senpai..” Rue asked “What did Tuna mean by ‘Maya’? was she another hostess?”

“Don’t be silly Rue, I don’t remember having a Maya as a host here” Moon replies 

“Hey maybe Maya was linked to the-“ 

“ENOUGH,,,ladies..please, Maya is- related somewhat to the Tomoda Banza Issue-“

All the girls fell silent. They knew the stories coming from the school. A murder on campus? Lily and Tomoda being the last ones to see the murderer up close....as well as personal  
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« 2 years ago » 

Roman Academy.  
A high school where lineage counted first, with money a close second.

To put it in fewer words, it was a high school where Lily Akiyama belonged.

With an remarkable family tree and even more remarkable assets, they had wondered if they were even qualified to fit in this rich playground.

And yet there they stood, peering up in awe at that overbearing, iron-wrought gateway. Behind them was the half-circle of a driveway where limousines pulled up, dropped off, and zoomed away like clockwork. 

The released students would then saunter by Lily, chattering about their vacations to Paris ("The scenery was so luscious!"), that new designer bag ("I bought a new outfit to match!"), or that new addition to their mansions ("You've gotta check out the 3 new tennis courts!").

It would be Lily’s first year at Roman Academy, fresh student. A time where Lily hadn’t created the Simp Club that would wreak havoc upon all the students.

Lily suppressed the creeping anxiety as much as they could.  
Classes went on without much excitement, if one ignored the fact that lessons were conducted in a bizarre dimension of marble floors, polished wooden desks, and ornate wall decorations. 

The halls continued the trend as mile-high windows and elegant chandeliers lined each corridor. Lily became very well acquainted with these architectural points as they wandered the main building in search of a quiet place to study after school. All four libraries were exceptionally crowded, and other rooms were occupied by clubs for meetings or practice. 

Lily was able to grab a seat in one of the libraries, dropping all of their textbooks needed for that semester to study.

"Did you hear what happened?"

"The murder's old news, you know."

"No! I'm not talking about that! The corpse! I heard it turned to ash while they were examining it!"

"Spooky!"

Lily sighed. Conversations like this were all over the school, the result of the rich having too much time on their hands. 

Most normal people wouldn't be talking about the recent murder as if it was a play or a show on television. 

Most normal people would be a little worried about their safety, especially since the murder had taken place on the school campus and the perpetrator hadn't been caught yet. 

Granted, there was increased security all over the place for their safety, but Lily still didn't think it appropriate to discuss the murder like it wasn't important. 

Someone had died for crying out loud! The boy's family was still in mourning.

"Akiyama!"

Lily looked up and sighed in dismay. Maya looked too happy about something. This didn't bode well in the least. 

Lily sighed as they scooted over in their seat to let the other girl sit. “Neh, Lily-chan since we’re both first years we should obviously study together!”

“Right...I guess”

The mid conversations in the library started to spread, seeking it’s way to Maya’s profound ears.

“A murder? hey Akiyama, who do you think the suspect may be?”

“Enough with your silly talk- I’m going to class” as Lily stands up from their seat, and straightens their school uniform.

The teachers have announced that students will have pairs to walk around the school grounds at all times, considering the murder case. Their safety was to rely on themselves and others.

Lily felt akward as they were paired up with a taller boy, sleek and thin. Goes by the name of “Tomoda Banza” apparently. He was also a first year and was the type every girl would fall in love for. He mentions having a younger sister in middle school. 

He chatted all the same. Tomoda was patient and seemed to enjoy speaking , though Lily didn't know why. He was a pretty normal person when they walked the school halls today.

“So what’s our next class? I’ll walk you there” Tomoda chimes as he gives Lily a bright gleaming smile.

“Oh it’s just Physics, but I can-“

“Great, we’ll walk together!” Tomoda said.

When Lily and Tomoda sat beside each other during physics, they had arrived earlier than expected and only a few kids lingered in the classroom. Listening carefully to their conversation. And it seemed that Tomoda joined into it as well.

"I've heard about a murder here," Tomoda prompted.

The gossips fell instantly into his trap. 

"Oh! Yes... It's rather unfortunate. He was supposed to inherit some medical practice in the States."

"The murder couldn't be about the practice. After all, it's not like a company that's putting another out of business."

"Maybe it was a creepy creep!"

“The boy hadn’t been bullied! I don’t recall him pissing anyone off-“

Lily nodded and tried to remember everything they were saying. But if Lily’s classmates knew of anyone acting odd, they were sure they'd accuse them in an instant.

"Do you know who could have done it?"

"If we had an idea, we'd have turned him in to the police already," Maya pointed out as she entered the room.

"True. I'm sorry for asking."

“Your right Maya”

“I agree”

Lily then passed her physics notes to Tomoda who had forgotten his. Yet the teacher still hadn’t arrived yet.

"Thank you—" Tomoda winced. "Excuse me a minute," he said quickly before rushing off with his hand over his eye.

"Why is this happening?"

Lily peeked into the storage room. Tomoda was peering into the hand mirror back there, looking at something intently. "Tomoda?"

He spun around, startled. "Oh! Lily, um... I'm fine; my eye just started hurting. Go back to the class." He wore a sheepish smile, but Lily could tell something was up.

"I brought some eye drops, if you want them."

"Huh? Oh! Thank you very much." Tomoda bowed quickly. "I don't need them, though. This happens all the time. I'll—" He stopped mid-sentence. "Get down!"

Before Lily knew what was happening, he had grabbed Lily to the ground.

Lily opened their mouth to say something, but Tomoda quickly silenced her with his hand.

"Don't scream," he said. "I can explain all of this, okay?"

Lily nodded, and he removed his hand. "I wasn't going to scream. I was going to answer your question."

"Oh."

"Would you mind getting off of me? I'm starting to lose feeling in my arms."

Before Tomoda could respond to their request, footsteps approached the room. They looked up like a frightened rabbit. 

When the teacher walked through the door, though,

"What's going on here?!"

"W-we were play fighting b-because LILY WOULDNT GIVE ME MY EYE DROPS" Tomoda said, jumping back.

The teacher then kicked them out of the storage room and made them sit back at their desks. Tomoda then slid a peice of paper to Lily, where they opened it to see that he wanted to talk to them afterschool.

When the time came, Tomoda led Lily in the academies large extravagant garden. 

“I want you to know that I might be crazy for saying this but...” Tomoda reclaimed as they walked. “You do know that Maya is your best friend right?”

“Yes, of course we are! wait why are you-“

“On Friday Night...I saw something while I was on after-school duties..”

...

Pov: Tomoda Banza

I remember having to fill and clean some school teacher files on Friday, and was needed to stay afterschool to finish them.

As I filled them out, I remember hearing sudden sounds- more like the tapping of feet. But I was alone in building one, no one was here. But maybe some clubs we’re staying in building two.

And so I stepped out into the hallway. It was yet dark, but the chandeliers above helped illuminate. Soon after I heard the pitiful screaming coning from the west bound of the school. I dash as I can to reach the helpless voice. I stop,,finding a musty wet trail of red soaking blood. I hear certain shifting and moving coming from the end of the blood trail. Peering through the corner of the hallway, there and then I see it.

Maya covered in her victims blood handed with a knife, school clothes tattered. She seemed to be in a state of shock staring at the boy’s dead corpse. 

I quickly cover my mouth and nose from the horrible smell and gasping. I then do not interact with the murderer herself. I practically escape from the building.

Every day from that night, people do not seem to mind to stick around Maya. Not knowing her intentions to kill someone.

“That story is- IT CANT BE TRUE! Maya honestly is the most amazing person on the planet, how in the world would she kill someone?” Lily argued as they had heard the story.

“Im saying this for your safety Lily!!” Tomoda whined

Just when Lily had finally made up their mind to leave, however, Tomoda seemed upset. He backed away from Lily as possible.

“Tomoda your hallucinating” were the words that came out of Lily’s mouth before leaving the garden.

...

“Ready, start!” The sound of the video game that Lily has been playing echoed through the room. They had been playing this game for half an hour now, but it's difficult to stop and quit the game—especially since this was the first time in a few weeks that their able to spend time outside of schoolwork. They had tried many several times to get their mind off Tomoda.

‘ Maya covered in her victims blood handed with a knife, school clothes tattered. She seemed to be in a state of shock staring at the boy’s dead corpse. ‘ Lily couldn’t possibly imagine and image like that, batting away Tomoda’s words

Living alone in your own all-expensive paid condo that Lily has been renting for quite some time now, Lily has been used to days of school-eat-sleep routine. 

Weekends were more of a rest time than play time. It wasn't easy to have such big responsibilities

“Ah, man!” They frowned at their cellphone's screen showing the ‘mission failed’ text. Lily pressed the retry button and closed their eyes, leaning on their bed's headboard. 

Lily quickly opened their eyes again when the game's sound increased, signalling the game's start.

They almost dropped their phone when it rang, the game screen immediately replaced by a caller ID. It's Lily’s mom.

“Hello?”

“Lily, how are you?” mom asked. They smiled, not caring that their mom couldn't see them.

“I'm fine. It's one of those days where I finally get a rest. You know? School has been tough these days,” Lily said, leaving out some details.

“Are you sure? Are you not worried of the killing events?” mom worriedly asked. Lily chuckled.

“No, mom. I'm fine.” A lie.

Lily has been suffering to get a good nights rest, experiencing vivid dreams of the school murder. Lily remember’s themselves waking up startled and practically scared, taking some pre-medications to relieve the stress.

“Okay... I'm glad you are.”   
They couldn't see their mom, but they knows she's smiling.

“Thank you. Ah, I'll hang up now. I need to finish some schoolwork” Lily said. Mom chuckled and said her good-bye too.

Sighing, they decided to exit the game and fix their bed. Taking their laptop from the table and opened it. Soon enough, they found themselves staring at the various school assignments they received from their teachers.

Lily frowned. “It's weekend! Why are they still working?” They messed their hair out of frustration. As a response, Lily rested their forehead on the table, desperately seeking for energy for the whole week's work.

Lily wasn't planning on lifting their head sooner, but they heard muffled sobs. 

Those which were obviously held back by a handkerchief.

They frowned and looked around, wondering where the sound was coming from. Lily’s alone, aren’t they? Where was the crying sound from?

They stood in front of the right wall of their room, anticipating every sound that they can hear. Yes, it was coming from the next condo, yet the walls were so thin you absolutely hear everything from the other side.

Lily sat on their bed, thinking hard. They saw a moving company drop by some stuff there last Thursday night. Maybe… Maybe the neighbor was feeling lonely? Homesick?

Lily stood up and went back to their laptop. Whatever that stranger is feeling, it's not theirs to think about. 

They had a decent number of problems going around already, they didn't need another.

Lily shrugged that new neighbor at the back of their head and wished that the dreams wouldn't attack them this night

“Was your condo’s walls really that thin?” Lily’s friend, Maya, asked them. As they talked during lunch hours.

Lily told Maya about the incident. As usual, Maya just teased Lily about it—saying stuff like ‘you might be living with crying ghosts’ and ‘maybe that's just your imagination’ but Lily knew that it was real.

“I don't know,” Lily said.

“What do you mean you don't know? You've literally been there for half of the semester. Of course I wouldn't know myself. I've been there only twice,” Maya said. Lily glared at her jokingly.

“I'm sure it was my neighbor, but I've been having way too many sleepless nights. I can't have more of those dreams” Lily said with a sigh.

“Dreams? what type of dreams?” Maya asked, leaning herself closer to the other body beside.

Dreams? Lily had lots of dreams....nightmares of Maya strangling Lily to death, or even worse killing every last student on campus

“Weird dreams..like-“

“Lily just get to the point” Maya quickly changed her voice to a deep serious voice.

Lily looked up to see Maya half-smiling, eyes open wide. Fuck was she creepy. Or was it just Lily being rude.

“I have dreams of the girl crying-“ Lily lied, to assure Maya to back off.

Maya pat her back. “I'm sorry I can't really help with that. Maybe you can tell the school about it? Or at least go to a doctor. You might need to drink sleeping pills.”

Lily hesitated. They didn't want to tell the school about the cries they heard, as the neighbor might not be comfortable with other people hearing them cry. 

Lily had already been to a doctor.  
“I'll… I'll try,” was everything Lily could utter.

Maya smiled. “Get better Lily, get better”

“Hey Lily I’ve been eyeing this boy recently that you’ve hanged out with, I’m developing wonderful feelings for him” Maya blushed, or was she just faking. Whatever expression she gave it seemed surreal this time.

“Good for you I guess?”

The rest of the day was usual to Lily. They was, as always, really tired to stand up from her desk, but they managed to fix their things and go home. Their thoughts, however, were drifting away.

As Lily reached her condo’s door, they couldn't help but take a glimpse of the door right next to theirs. The door was closed, and the small window next to it was closed too, with a black curtain that can be seen from the outside.

‘Seems gloomy,’ Lily thought but shrugged it off anyways. This isn't their business.

Lily stopped from opening their door as they heard multiple muffles from the neighbour’s condo. A horrible stench occupied Lily’s nose, coughing. It smelled pungent, and almost as if something was dead.

Lily entered their own condom, whatever the neighbour had going on, they obviously had to mind their business. After countless hours of trying to sleep, Lily checked their phone from the bedside table. It's almost 4 AM.

They grasped their hair and almost purposefully bumped their head on the wall.

Then Lily heard it again. Sniffs and sobs from the neighbor next-door. Sighing, they remembered how their father would always console them. Maybe it could work?

Lily stood up and changed their clothes. Right after, they went straight to their door. “Am I seriously going to do this?” Lily whispers to themselves.

What if the neighbor wouldn't like that? 

What if they hated to be noticed? 

What if they didn't need help?

Lily’s thoughts were a mess. They didn't know whether or not they should comfort their neighbor. Deciding against it, Lily went back to their bed. 

Maybe next time

A somewhat screeching holler dominated from the other side, as Lily lifted their head. Drool? Did Lily really drift off to sleep?

Lily checked the time...5:30 a.m, they only received an hour of sleep.

They needed to stop this crazy manifestation, it was really getting out of hands. Lily grabbed their shoes from the nearest shoe rack, and went out. It was still very dark in the morning as the sun didn’t peak out yet. Lily had noticed that the house lights inside were open through the black curtain’s thin material.

But the door was left open.

Being the idiot they were, Lily entered the house without knocking or saying something to alert the neighbour. 

The house was empty, very empty to be exact. A round circular table lay in the middle of the main floor, surrounded by wooden chairs. Upstairs Lily heard a thud, and somewhat voices that were definitely muffled. 

They crept slowly up the stairs to find a trail of blood, scattered as if someone had been dragging numerous types of bodies. The trail led to a room, which was closed. A ‘Help!’ screamed from that door, as it was silenced later.

Lily had no choice.

What was happening in there?

There’s blood...of course their could be someone who’s hurt 

Should I call the police?

But what if they’re already dead?

Lily then opened the door, revealing the bloody massacre of bodies mounted in the corner. God, they wanted to vomit at the sight. The smell really started to kick in. 

“Lily! p-please I swear-“ a familiar voice cried out

Lily then lingered to the eyes of one, Tomoda. Face splattered from it’s victims blood. 

“You bastard- you killed them all..your the murderer!” Lily yelled at Tomoda whose eyes widened at shock, backing away into a wall.

Confused by the sudden behaviour, they ducked under as a slash of a blade whipped by. Looking up they saw the horrors of her nightmare come to life.

Maya, her precious friend

Equipped with what several weapons with her. 

“Oh! it’s Akiyama! glad to know your joining our wonderful party- you see hear, I found Tomoda walking his little sister home! so I took the opportunity to snatch him...his sister is pretty cute..I’m guessing a first year in middle school, I might as well rip her to peices next”

Lily didn’t know what to say, there, and right now, their looking at the face who collectively murdered dozens. No one would have suspected such a student to do such a thing. The cries and muffles Lily heard every night was a victim being dissembled and killed. Lily could’ve saved more lives. 

Tomoda then started dashing for the door, as Maya quickly closed it. Wrapping an arm around his neck, bringing a silver blade up.

“Akiyama you better choose who dies today, I can spare your pitiful life or I can spare my lover’s..the choice is yo-“ Maya stopped abruptly as Lily ran at her. Tumbling down from the sudden force she let go of Tomoda. In which Lily grabbed the knife from the open hand.

Tomoda whipped an arm around Maya, “KILL HER LILY! KILL HER-“

Clutching the knife, was Lily really gonna do this? couldn’t they just tie up her, so they can the police.

“For fucks sake Lily can’t you see she murdered innocent people? They were living life, BREATHING the same air we did in school- But there gone BECAUSE of this dipshit-“ Tomoda yelled tightening the arm around, making Maya choke and gasp for air.

“Your hurting her! we’ll tie her up!” Lily said 

“Hurting her? HURTING HER?! listen to yourself Lily! What? you wanna tie her up, yeah get sentenced to prison for the rest of her life. Knowing she’s still alive sitting in some juvenile cell, repaying the lives of dozens???!” 

And darn right was Tomoda, Lily dropped the knife. Lily kneeled down, wiped the tears from her face. 

A sudden yelp was heard and blood seemed to pour down from the skies, dyeing the floor a beautiful red crimson color. Maya gurgles and clutches her throat as blood sprays from the gash, before sucking in a last breath.

Lily had seen their friend get a knife punctuated in their throat. Right in front of their very eyes. 

“YOU IDIOT!! why did you KILL her?! I rather live in debt than to know that my friend was killed by you!” Lily grasped onto Tomoda’s collar. “We’ve?got her blood all over us! what if the court doesn’t believe us?l

“Haha— YOU THINK IM GONNA LET THE MURDERER GO AROUND AND KILL MORE? Did you fucking hear what she said when she gets my sister? HUH? We can still call the police and get them to the scene” Tomoda yelled as pushed Lily off, running downstairs.

.  
.  
.

Here is where Lily stands in court, they had won the case by the support of money and power. Bribing the court to silence those who do not accept this release of Akiyama and Banza. The media was also abruptly shut as many of the police forces cleaned the scene up returning the bodies to the rightful families.

Lily and Tomoda returned back to school. Lily is all alone for once, no one to call them throughout the halls, no one to comfort them in times of needs, because beneath all that kindness laid the evil within itself.

As a way to cope from their traumatic experience Lily had then requested to make a club. A special club that will change the lives of those forever.

.  
.  
.  
.  
.

Cy walked home that evening clutching the collar in his hand. He stuffed it deep down his school pants, and headed for the liquor store. His brother, Yumeda had requested to get some.

The store was small to his liking, an old man sat in his chair at the counter, giving Cy a nod. While he ventured through the sea of shelves, the bell of the door chimed. A petty small girl had arrived and started to have a conversation with the old man. Cy noticed quickly that it was the same girl who dashed out of the Simp Clubroom. 

Cy then brings the bottle onto the paying counter. 

“ID?” the old man looked up to him with warm welcoming eyes

Cy took out the sticky note his brother had attached to the ID card. The man then read it and looked surprised.

“Oh! Your Yumeda’s brother! I’ve heard of you from him. It seems that you moved here to Japan-“ As he wrapped the bottle of whiskey in a brown paper bag passing the ID back.

Cy had no time to talk, neither for small chat as he picked up the bag and left.

...

Kaseh opened her door to reveal Cy. Before shutting it completely. Cy was very confused before he heard a sudden yell from inside. “MOM~ Cy is here to kill me, so don’t wait for me to come home tonight-“. As Kaseh opened the door again.

Cy felt relieved that Kaseh didn’t know what he did today.

They walked back to Cy’s house, entering the small kitchen in which Kaseh helped herself to some soda. 

“So do you have my camera?” Kaseh asked as she drank.

“I-Im sorry Kaseh but...when you ran away, well um that girl who you’ve been taking pictures stepped on it-“

Kaseh spat out her drink onto Cy’s school sweater. “YOU WHAT-?!? at least fix it Cy, the Newspaper Club will kill me if they find out my cameras obliterated into peices!!” 

Cy honestly felt bad, but somehow on his behalf. It was Kaseh’s fault for taking pictures of another student and leaving Cy in the bushes. But obviously he didn’t want Kaseh to be involved in such matters.

The collar fell out of his pants and gave a loud ‘clink’ hitting the kitchen tiles.

“Oh did you get a dog? or-“ Kaseh set down her can to pick up the collar.

“It’s from the uhhhh the pet store- I saw this um cute puppy on the way home so I just bought it in case-“

“It’s quite large for a puppy’s neck-“ Kaseh pointed out 

“I meant- Dog” Cy said as he grabbed the collar and put it in his schoolbag.

Soon after that fiasco they were interrupted by the front door opening and Yumeda coming in. He greeted them and put down a bag of takeout food. Assured Kaseh to take one home.   
It was a horrible idea to tell Kaseh that he’s some doggy pet to the Simp Club.

Spoliers: 

He goes outside for some fresh air and sees Rue walking. He comes up to them and greets, before recieving a punch in the face. 

“YOU IDIOT, YOU IMBECILE!! This is all your fault!!” Rue screamed

“W-WHAT DID I DO?!” As Cy pushed Rue off.

“She’s gone...she’s fucking gone- MY Caey is gone-“

Then it struck to Cy like a memory from his head.

——— “Do you think I should move schools? just a simple question” Caey asked looking up to face Cy.

Never in his years had he seen such a lifeless face. She looked so sad, yearning emotion at some point. Eyes pale, no flecks of light shone. God, who hurt her?

“I-I don’t know...if you want to then do it” Cy replied still questioning on why Caey had asked.

“Thank you for the advice...Cy” Caey smiled as she left the couch ———


	7. The Deception

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Caey did something unexpected, and Rue overreacted.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Im sorry this chapter is much short from the other one’s as I accidentally dozed off to sleep on my laptop last night lol.

"Senpai, I'm afraid I have some terrible news."  
Both Rue and Mikoto looked up from their frantic work on that month's manga issue. While Peach could get away with failing her finals thanks to having an already successful career to fall back on, her assistants were anxious to complete their tasks so they could hurry home and study as their personal futures were not nearly as secure if their grades weren't good enough for their post-secondary choices.

And, try as they might to ignore Peaches increasingly obvious discomfort, it seemed it would be unavoidable to not spend a little time to discuss what sort of bee was stuck in Peaches bonnet. 

The last time she'd acted like this, she'd been under the mistaken impression that Rue was dating Mikoto, and had been forced to face the fact that the thought made her insanely jealous.

"What is it, Peach-?" Rue asked with a sigh, hoping that, whatever it was, it didn't make them regret not allowing Caey to tag along. At least she was capable of actually working while she chatted, as opposed to Peach, who'd barely succeeded in lifting a pencil so far that afternoon. 

Rue was luckyto avoid Caey during somewhat their club activities and only responded if she needed help on the script.

"I'm afraid that, just the other day, I witnessed Caey cheating on you."

The line Rue had been drawing with the help of a ruler suddenly went way off-course and they lifted their head in a panic--until they noted Mikoto frantically shaking his head.

"No no no, Peach-kun! It's as I explained before! Caey-kun still has a responsibility to entertain her fans- well um whatever i- " He turned to Rue, making all sorts of gestures that were probably supposed to mean something important, but hell if they knew what he was hoping to communicate. "Right, Senpai?!"

"...Right," they agreed, somewhat hesitantly, and began to carefully erase the mistake. "She has to keep her fan club happy and active so they'll continue to support her and the drama club next year."

However, Peach still wasn't convinced. "If that were the case, then it ought to have been a small crowd of girls instead of just the one, wouldn't it?"

Mikoto was at a loss, but Rue had a possible explanation... as crazy as it might seem. "Well... if she was chasing some girl in the street and professing her undying love and affection, it was probably her sibling—" In response to Mikoto’s astounded expression, he added, "She doesn't get to see her often, so Caey tends to go a bit... overboard... whenever they meet. Remember the post-performance party last week?"

"Oh, I was wondering what that was all about!" Rue was wondering how they ought to answer his follow-up questions since it really wasn't their right to share the details of the Caey’s family's unique issues, but Peach stepped in again to steer the conversation back on track, to Mikoto’s obvious chagrin.

"It couldn't have been her sibling. You were there, Mikoto--the atmosphere was far too calm and pleasant to be as you described, Senpai. Besides, what sort of siblings would kiss in public on White Day?"

Mikoto desperately stepped in, transparently tossing aside his personal feelings on the matter to say, "S-some siblings kiss all the time! A-and White Day is... is really just a regular, ordinary day, isn't it?!"

But it was too late. Rue’s face was already white as a sheet and they had broken out in a cold sweat. They couldn't believe this was happening...

"I'm sorry, Senpai," Peach concluded, driving the final nail in place, "but even if some siblings really do share easily misinterpreted platonic affections... I doubt that any of them would kiss like that."

Rue abruptly, but unsteadily, rose to their feet. "I think... I better go..."

Peach didn't argue the logic in that, looking on in sympathy as Mikoto scrambled to his feet as well. "We--we got enough work done for today, I think! I'll walk you to the train station, Senpai!"

"Thanks," Rue said, numbly, as he helped them gather up their things. 

Farewells were understandably subdued.

Rue managed to endure walking a whole block before they couldn't hold it in anymore and shouted, "Fuck! What the hell am I supposed to do about this?!, I confess to her and she rejects me, and now she’s onto another girl!”

Mikoto did his best to be supportive. "It'll be okay, Senpai! We'll figure something out! Maybe the fan club had a raffle where the winner got to go on a 'pretend date' with Caey-kun on White Day, and she just forgot to tell you! It could have been suddenly sprung on her and she didn't get the chance! And then she was too worried about how you'd react to tell you after!"

"Actually... that's just convoluted enough to work," Rue replied, and they both sighed in relief. They took a few more steps before their curiosity got the better of them. “Do you think..Caey doesn’t like me?”

Mikoto smiled and shook his head.  
“Of course not! she obviously still likes you— as a friend I mean, I'm so sorry," Mikoto said. He was quickly becoming accustomed to apologizing over everything he said.

"Don't worry about it," Rue replied. In the end, it was probably their own fault for forcing and leaving Caey if she didn’t accept their feelings back.

Rue had went to the drama club after school. As they had set up multiple chairs for their meeting. It was quite early as only a few members were in the club room. Their stageplay will happen very soon at the end of next month. Props were fully painted and set in place onstage. Costumes were accessorized with details and fine hand-crafted work.

A little tap on the shoulder pressed onto Rue’s shoulder. “Hey Ru- I mean President, can we talk for a bit?”

“Just say what you want and join the others on stage” Rue grunted trying to iron one of the costumes. 

“I wanna talk abou-“

“I heard you got a girlfriend am I right?” Rue said, trying to see if the rumours were true.

“I— where did y-you hear that o-of course I don’t..”

“Then who’s the girl you kissed on Friday? “

Caey stopped talking, and lowered her head. It’s the stupid silence treatment again, Rue thought. “Okay reject me and start dating another girl to make me feel something” they exclaimed, folding the clothes.

“I LOVE SAIO! T-thats right I like Saio! t-the first year-“ Caey had suddenly raised their voice.

“Ohhhh okay, you picked the new transfer student over me! amazing, wait till I tell Lily about your relationship-“

“Oh but Saio isn’t from this school! she’s not a CUSTOMER NOR A HOST- I love her, I wanna kiss her- I-“

“Then what were those fucking words you said when we were on that hill? the nurses office? Was this all a stupid game to play with my feelings?” Rue smacked the iron against the ironing board, looking at Caey.

“your just a friend Rue...and always be one..besides Cy convinced me to move to Saio’s school, at Troy Academy’s of the Talented..”

The words sinked slowly and deeply into Rue’s mind and heart. The person they adored for years, the person who made them laugh, cry, and smile. The person who they loved could only mutter those words..”you’ll always be one” Was Rue only to remain that way? They weren’t Caey’s everything, Rue was just a mere fan- just like the others.

A sudden quick movement flinched from Rue. Swinging her fist towards Caey’s face.  
.  
.  
.  
Rue walked home that evening clenching the wet sought towel around their hand. The punch was so powerful it had knocked Caey into consciousness. 

“You idiot, what did you?” A voice echoed in Rue’s mind “You could’ve killed her”

They noticed a familiar tall boy walking out of a small house. Rue had already forgotten they were already walking in a large neighborhood. 

“Hey look it’s that bastard, Cy. He’s the one who convinced Caey to move schools” Their consciousness took over Rue’s body.

“Oh hey! It’s Rue!!” Cy said, smiling. A sudden hit met Cy’s face as he collapsed to the sidewalk, scraping his knees.

“YOU IDIOT, YOU IMBECILE!! This is all your fault!!” Rue screamed overtopping Cy.

“W-WHAT DID I DO?!” As Cy pushed Rue off.

“She’s gone...she’s fucking gone- MY Caey is gone-“

Then it struck to Cy like a memory from his head. Did he really convince Caey to move? He didn’t mean it to actually come into reality. The Simp Club will definitely plunder m-

“I- I accidentally p-punched Caey’s face, and she fucking fainted- and I’ll probably seek b-being expelled” Rue had already started sniffing, covering their face with their arm.

Cy didn’t know what to say about the girl standing in front of him. Now both of them stay there silenced. As BOTH of them will have to face the wrath of Lily’s power. The Simp Club will lose Caey- or so will it be?  
.  
.  
.

In hindsight, it was as though the entire day had been gearing up for that moment. Every tiny inconvenience added up, fouling their mood to the lowest level it had been in months, even before their Vice President's unfortunate news dropped the floor out from under them entirely. 

Maybe it wouldn't have turned out so bad if Rue hadn't put a foot through the knee of their school uniform while hurriedly pulling them on that morning after nearly sleeping in because they had forgotten to charge their phone. 

Maybe if they hadn't ended up missing the train after spilling breakfast all over themselves, forcing another quick change of clothes, and the absence of someone they could complain to about their crappy morning. 

Maybe if Rue hadn't been late to class despite hauling ass every step of the way, only to be informed through friendly but ill-timed heckling from nearby classmates that they’d forgotten to gel their hair that morning thanks to the rush. 

Rue been left completely off balance by the terrible luck, and if they'd known in advance that it would just get worse, they would have gone straight back home and endured whatever lesser punishment he would have earned for the crime of truancy.

Instead, all the forces of nature collided in the perfect storm. Rue lost control, and that was almost the worst part; knowing that they’d betrayed the trust of everyone including themselves. 

Rue felt sick to their stomach with the knowledge that they had been absolutely powerless to stop themselves from flying completely off the handle. 

Rue could barely even apologize, knowing just how easily they'd come undone, and therefore, how little ability they actually had in preventing another occurrence. Rue was supposed to have solved this issue years ago.

Rue sat ramrod straight in their seat in the head masters office, awaiting their sentence with every shred of dignity they could muster, yet still choking on guilt as Caey fidgeted in the seat next to them. 

Rue couldn't bring themselves to look at her again, but their last glance had revealed her face to be paler than they’d ever witnessed and her eyebrows pinched tight in pain and terror, which was only a slightly less worse reason for her current pallor than blood loss. She'd bled quite a bit, but the nurse had confirmed their desperate hope that Rue hadn't also broken her nose in the act of bloodying it, so she had been permitted to attend their meeting with the principal once the flow had gotten under control. 

"We've been overlooking the occasional violence between you two as playful roughhousing," the principal began, "but it's clear that a line was crossed yesterday and the administration can no longer turn a blind eye on this situation. Not only is Caey-san and her mother able to press formal assault charges if they so wish, but allowing this behavior on school property without discipline would set a terrible precedent among the rest of the attending students here. Do you understand, Rue-san?"

"Yes, Sensei," Rue recited in a steady tone, meeting the principal's harsh glare without flinching. As an actor, they were able to put on a brave face even as they felt twisted up inside. They’d extract every ounce of discipline from this encounter, and maybe it would sink in this time and there would be no more examples of their quietly simmering rage boiling over in harmful ways.

But there was no way Caey could have understood that. She abruptly stood and bowed down low in a single fluid movement, unwittingly restarting another type of fluid movement. "Sensei it was only a punch, do not give such hard statements toward Rue-senpai, as for I am the one to blame"

Before the principal could even react to the sudden outburst, Rue, well used to similar situations with Caey, pulled her back into her seat by the shoulder with one arm while their free hand grabbed a fistful of tissues from their pocket to press against her gushing nose. "

For God's sake, Caey," Ruebsaid, pressing as gently as possible while trying to prevent ruining their third uniform that day. (Meanwhile, Caey’s clothes had long since become another casualty of their awful luck.) "Sit still and let your nose heal properly before pulling any more theatrics."

Rue felt the principal's stare burning into the back of their head for every moment it took for Caey's hand to rise up and take over for them, but when they pulled back to return to a proper seating position, it seemed as though there was less disappointment and more exasperation to be found in the principal's expression... as was Caey's usual effect on her authority figures. 

Themselves included--if as Rue was allowed to remain President of Drama Club after this, anyway.

They got the impression that the principal wanted nothing more than to drop their face into both their open palms, but was able to resist thanks to far more serious situations granting them a formidable poker face. 

Rue themselves had witnessed it countless times in their first year at Roman Academy, actually. 

"Troublesome as you may be, Caey-san..." the principal agreed with a sigh, "it is Rue-san's duty as senpai to guide his kouhai and provide a good example as a model student for you and others to emulate. It is perfectly understandable to lose your temper from time to time, but harming others as a result is not acceptable. And for Rue-san in particular--young lady, you are the president of a club that specializes in expressing thoughts and feelings to an audience through dialogue and non-verbal cues, yet for some reason your first reaction to a troublesome kouhai is violence? Is this in part due to your club's preference of producing action/adventure plays?"

That, more than anything else the principal could have said, terrified Rue completely. The cold shard that passed through their chest rivaled the horror they'd felt upon realizing what Rue had almost done to Caey. 

Rue jumped up to their feet, unknowingly mirroring Caey's earlier movements and bowing their head as they sought to protect her just as much as she'd hoped to protect them. "Sensei, please don't punish the club for my personal indiscretion. I will accept your judgment regarding my behavior without complaint--but the club itself shouldn't be held responsible for my actions." 

Outlawing the action/adventure genre would affect Caey in particular. She'd suffer a lack of 'prince' roles to excel in, and even though the forced diversity could only increase her ability as an actor, there was no greater way to help her shine on stage than to put her there dressed like royalty and presenting her with a sword ready to aid in the defeat every adversary that crossed her path!

"Sit down," the principal said, and Rue obeyed without another word. "Normally I would wait to speak with a parent or guardian before assigning disciplinary action, but I had the usual difficulty in your case, Rue-san, so speaking with them about it will have to wait for now. You are hereby suspended from school for two days--you will not attend classes or club activities for the duration, as you will instead be using this time to sort through any mental strife that is behind your violent outbursts, and practicing non-violent expressions of impatience and irritation. Do you understand, Rue-san?"

"Yes, Sensei," Rue replied, barely able to believe such a relatively light punishment when they'd had so much more to lose.

But the principal was also aware of that. "Be advised that further violence will lead to more severe disciplinary action, Rue-san. As a student, you'd normally have been expected to be active from club activities months ago if not for your impressive grade scores, but I can very easily change my mind on that matter. In addition, expulsion will be considered if your behavior worsens, so use these next two days wisely."

"Yes, Sensei," Rue said again, and the two of them were dismissed from the office. They entered the empty hall together--classes had been over for hours, now, and all the clubs should have already departed for the day. 

Caey's worried and spitting mad fangirls had long since been escorted off school property by their irritated teachers, and even the school staff, minus the principal filling out the paperwork their actions had generated, appeared to have left for their homes.

They trudged along silently toward the school entrance for several minutes before Caey quietly murmured past the bunched up tissues, "I'm sorry, Senpai."

Rue had the horrific urge to elbow her in the side, but was thankfully already too mentally exhausted to do much more than continue to place one foot in front of the other. "The victim should not be apologizing. It was entirely my fault, and I deserved to be punished for my actions." 

Except it would hardly be contrite to apologize now, considering how Rue’s previous thought had been to lash out again.

"No," she said, and her voice was tight, now. Rue didn't have to look up to see tears gathering in her eyes, but right now they were a glutton for punishment. 

"Hori-chan-senpai you can hit me all you want, excrete your hate towards me. But I will and still love Saio, I just can’t see that in you"

Rue couldn't just walk her out of the building on the verge of tears, so Rue took her by the elbow and guided her into a classroom, pulling out the closest chair from the closest desk so she could sit and they could set a few things straight. 

May as well get a head start on his two days of reflection and non-violent communication, right?

Caey took the offered chair without even a hint of a joke about how she was supposed to be the prince. 

They pulled out another tissue from their pocket so she could dry her eyes--Rue’s handkerchief was already bloody and tucked away somewhere in their bag along with the occasional blood-soaked towel that had been wrapped around Rue’s hand from the impact.

"Let me make something perfectly clear," they began, resting their hands on her shoulders to ensure that they had her full attention. "Caey I control you, neither the Simp Club’s strict rules. If this is what you think is best— moving schools, then I encourage you to do it then"

"What?" she said, at a loss for any other response.

"It's true," Rue insisted. They had to pause for a moment.

Caey sat quietly throughout, obediently soaking it in, but cut in at that point to say, "But if it really was enough, do you still have frelings for me? Please tell me what I'm doing to make you so mad all the time so I can stop and you won't get into trouble because of me again!"

Rue’s frustration with her was already building up again, but Rue pushed it back down again so they could explain properly. Maybe all the previous violence had knocked her head around so much that she lacked the ability to make the connections between her behaviors and their ill-advised punishments? 

"Seriously, Kashima, how are you the top student in your grade when you can't grasp the simple concept of cause and effect? What I’m saying is...that I can’t force you to love me, as much as I love you- Saio seems like a great girl who will properly treat you well" 

Okay, so maybe Rue was too frustrated to properly explain right away without complaining a little, first.

“I guess I understand senpai...also I’ve noticed you’ve been hanging out with Peach-senpai a lot!”

She struggled to solidify her claim. "The shoujo manga that is signed with a personal message to you from the mangaka that is also very heavily notarized in your handwriting that I also witnessed you discussing very seriously with Peach-san and asking her to act out some scenes with you?! And the doll furniture you said you were making for personal use?!"

Of course...Caey doesn’t know Rue works as background artist for Peaches Manga’s.

Rue held out both hands to stop her this time, before she worked herself up too much and started gushing blood again, but they still had to take a second to figure out how to explain without explaining... too much. 

"Peach and I... we... know that particular mangaka." Yeah, that could work... "We help Yumeneko-sensei with her production from time to time. Peach helps with the writing and characters, while I help out with the backgrounds. In return, Pea--Yumeneko-sensei writes a few scripts for the drama club."

Caey's eyes were wide, as though filled by all the secret information (and misinformation) they'd shared about themselves today. 

"This Yumeneko-sensei is the one who has been helping our club with those handwritten scripts? Should... should I also be helping her with the manga somehow?"

Abort! Abort! Abort! Rue hastily shook his head. "You help enough just by being yourself--I think you might be an inspiration for the male lead?" 

Okay, they were pretty sure that was a bold-faced lie. "Regardless, it's a delicate and time-consuming process that'll probably bore you considering you can barely sit still long enough to help paint a backdrop, and you don't exactly go around wooing your fans with artwork." 

Did she even have drawing skill? Rue knew that she took calligraphy as her elective, so she could probably manage beta-work well enough, at least, but there was no way he was going to consider putting Caey between Mikoto and and her time with Peach. That would just be cruel (and potentially dangerous?).

Thankfully, she was distracted by the accidental suggestion. "Drawing for the girls, huh? That sounds like it might be fun to try, actually." 

Rue wasn't going to complain about that unless she tried to nick supplies from the clubroom.

It was time to steer the conversation back on track, though. "So this thing between us is over right?"

"Yes I’m sure" she said, seriously. "Because, I mean, I thought you might have just been using your anger to punish me, and while I admit we can still stay friends when I leave this campus, also why do you play with doll furniture?”

Rue pressed a palm against their forehead. What was the principal's secret to suppressing that urge? "I'm sure, Caey, and the doll furniture was supposed to provide reference for drawing backgrounds." 

Except they had their doubts that Peach had ever actually used the dollhouse for its intended purpose.

She actually looked a little disappointed about that. 

Why hadn't Rue thought of having this one-on-one talk with her before now? So much unnecessary stress prolonged by a stupid misunderstanding...well ever since that night on the hill, I guess Rue had been overwhelmed by the whole thing.

Caey remembered the other pressing issue. "And, regarding that I’ll be leaving this school by the end of this week?"

Rue could not be honest with her, now. "I am endless frustrated by the differences in our respective work ethics. Especially now that there's an actual dire need for you to step up and take on some responsibility."

"Huh?" she uttered, and Rue realized that there would have been no way for her to have heard the news, considering that they'd both missed the meeting that afternoon.

"I'll be quitting my job duties as president for next year," they reminded her, "and now that I’m suspended for two days, our vice president had been sick so she won’t be here as well. The rest of the club members don’t have substantial experience in leadership so...I have very little time remaining to teach you properly in order to replace me, Caey, and I need you to be fully prepared to accept this responsibility or the Drama Club"

Rue could practically see the gears moving in Caey's head as she processed their new reality. "Ah," she said, so quietly that they weren’t sure they were meant to hear it, "it's time to grow up, then, huh? Don’t worry senpai! I’ll be your new placement President for the next two days while your gone!”

Rue held their bag holding their (still) dead cell phone, and decided that they could probably go home to grab their recharger and a few necessities so they could stay over at Peaches that night and get some work done to hopefully make up for the forgotten alias. 

Actually, now that their issues with Caey were hopefully now resolved, they might as well stay over at Peaches until that month's manuscript was complete, right? Well, it was probably wishful thinking that everything was fine, now. 

Could he really trust Caey to suddenly take club activities seriously? Especially now that he wouldn't be around to escort her to the club room for the next two days?

Rue brought over a trash can so Caey could toss the used tissues, and pulled out a few more from their pocket just in case her nose started up again on the way to the train station. 

Rue probably should have just grabbed the whole box instead of ripping out a couple dozen sheets individually to shove into their pockets in a stupid panic, but there wasn't anything they could do about that now. At least they still had a few more ready to go if it got bad again.

They hadn't ever been to her house, but it had to be pretty close to Rue since they used the same station. "I'll walk you home," they said, prepared to not take no for an answer, but she offered no protest. 

Aside from the fact that Rue didn't want her walking home alone with the possibility of the wound reopening and Caey passing out from blood loss hanging over their head, it would also be a good opportunity to apologize to her mom and avoid an assault charge, though they weren’t particularly concerned about a mom that had produced such a carefree child.

It seemed their luck had turned around, because the train ride was mercifully lacking in nosebleeds or any other kind of trouble, and Rue was right about her mom. Her mom was a bit more serious about it, she'd pretty much just thanked Rue for making sure she'd gotten home safely instead of getting mad that they'd been the one to hurt her in the first place.

Rue was already halfway down the street, they had only a minimal amount of time to realize that she was running over to them again before Rue turned to meet her head on, and then they were nearly swept off their feet in a surprise embrace. 

Rue’s toes were left just barely touching the pavement. "Thank you for being my senpai," she said, and Rue was overtaken by such a strong burst of fondness for this silly, stupid, absolutely infuriating and infinitely charming girl that they felt as though they'd have been knocked off their feet had she not been holding them up.

"Couldn't ask for a more interesting kouhai," they replied, and, what the hell, they may as well indulge her a bit to reward her good behavior. Rue let their arms rise up and wind around her. "Put some ice on your face before it starts to bruise," Rue added, after a moment.

"I promise!" she replied, probably because it would have been a pain to reply to each part separately. "I'll be up bright and early on Friday morning, just you wait and see!" She released them so they could see her salute.

Big words from the girl who usually took the last possible train to school and didn't even bother running to make it to class on time. Well, until they'd started to meet her at the station every morning, anyway. "I'll look forward to that," Rue said. "Good night, Caey."

"Good night, Senpai!" she replied, and her smile was perfection, even if it was surrounded by red-stained skin. Rue had to turn away as they waved farewell, or they might have been stuck staring at her all evening. There really was no one better suited to stand on stage, that was for sure.

Rue still ended up looking back to make sure she made it into her house safely. There was no way they'd have been able to relax, otherwise.

That very evening-

The light and floaty feeling initiated by Caey's sudden expression of affection persisted all through the trek to Rue’s house and back to Peaches apartment. 

They weren’t surprised to see Mikoto there as well, but it was plainly obvious that the two of them were definitely shocked to see them. 

Rue paused in the entryway, baffled for a moment before they remembered that news regarding Caey tended to spread near-instantaneously, so they had likely heard all sorts of different accounts from actual witnesses and false information from brazen shit-stirrers. 

Maybe they'd tried to reach them on their cell phone, but, of, course, they hadn't had an opportunity to stop and recharge it, yet. There were probably hundreds of texts to scroll through by now, and sorting through the angry fangirl messages to get to the ones sent by friends was going to be a pain in the ass, but at least a couple of them could turn out to be useful lines of dialogue for Peaches manga or something. 

Man, they really was in a good mood to have zeroed in on such an obscure silver lining right off the bat.

"Hey," Rue greeted, shutting the door behind them and removing their shoes. 

"Before anything else, in case she hasn't contacted anyone yet, Caey is fine. I made sure she got home safely.”

"Ah, yes..." Mikoto responded, and Peach just silently observed them (probably diligently committing the somewhat awkward conversation to memory for future use). 

"She sent everyone a mass text a short time ago where she said as much, and also wished for no one to blame you for what happened. But, Rue-senpai, you seem oddly at ease after facing what must have been a tough lecture?"

Rue belatedly realized they were smiling a bit, which must have been a little disturbing to the other two, as though they'd transformed into one of those   
'yandere' types all of a sudden.

"Yeah, it was tough," Rue agreed, "but, listen--everything is fine. I'll be absent from school for a few days, but it was well worth all the good that'll come with it." 

Wait, that kind of sounded like he was saying that seriously harming Caey had been a good thing. "And by that I mean Caey and I should understand each other a little better now, so incidents like today shouldn't happen again as long as we continue to communicate properly."

Peach and Mikoto quickly glanced at each other, but remained silent. It was a bit eerie that they seemed able to communicate without words all of a sudden. Did they finally hook up while Rue wasn't looking, or something? Rue hoped this slight drama wasn't taking away from the initial bliss.

But, anyway, they still had an errand to attend to, which ought to neatly distract them from any heavy thoughts...

Deciding not to worry about that yet, pulling out of their bag with their cell phone and recharger. Rue quickly plugged the device into an unused socket and joined the other two at the table. 

Rue’s manga tools appeared on the table in front of them through the magic of unconscious habit. Rue had then explained to the two that Caey was a replacement president for the next two days, before she leaves to Troy Academy.

Mikoto caught the vague implication immediately, nearly shouting in surprise before she calmed himself enough to say, "But is Caey-kun really going to be okay with all that responsibility?"

"Who exactly is this 'Yumeneko-sensei'?" Peach interrupted, peering down at her via message from Caey.

Shit, so Rue memory had failed them after all. "She probably misremembered your pen name, Peach," they admitted. "The message is for you, of course. I'll correct her later."

"Ah," Peach replied, looking thoughtful, then abruptly stood up and entered her bedroom. Damn, so she’d been offended after all. Rue didn't know what else to do but to get started on the backgrounds, and hopefully they’d be forgiven after offering to spend a solid portion of their school suspension getting a head start on the backgrounds for next month's issue, which might translate into the whole thing being completed early so there wouldn't be a deadline crunch and possibly leave them with some free time.

"I will now commence the reading of the message.” Peach commenced after coming back.

She seemed to have been planning to read it aloud, but after looking at the messahe and looking over the contents, she instead looked over to her male assistant and said, "Mikoto," beckoning him over with her free hand, and kneeling at the table in consideration of their height difference.

"Yes, Peach-kun?" he asked, obediently sitting next to her so they could read the note together. His face flushed a bit at their proximity, but he was quickly distracted by the note's contents. "Oh!" he exclaimed. "This is actually a great idea!"

Peach nodded emphatically, "The inspiration for various scenarios had stuck already. I am confident I can write a great script for this request. However," she put the note on the table and pointed to two separate clauses, "these parts are somewhat contradictory, don't you think? What should I do?"

Mikoto hummed in thought. "You're right--there's a distinct feeling of wishing it to be a surprise, yet at the end here, requests that you be sure that Rue-senpai approves."

The two of them looked up to consider Rue, "This is unprecedented," they complained. "As President of the drama club, I need some form of involvement in the scriptwriting process in order to plan auditions, costumes, and set production!"

"Yes, but since Rue-senpai has been suspended from school," Peach argues, "he has also forfeit his position as president until his punishment expires. His presidential duties will therefore be temporarily handled by his current Vice President."

Never before had Rue been struck by such a potent urge to writhe upon the ground.

"I will complete the rough draft tonight and deliver it to the Vice President tomorrow morning for beta reading," Peach decided. "The next two days will be more than enough time for revisions. By the time your punishment is lifted, the script will be complete, and perhaps then it would be a good opportunity to reveal the surprise to you, Senpai."

Mikoto nodded in agreement, and added, "I realize that this is highly irregular, Rue-senpai, but please bear with it for now. If it's any consolation, I think you're right to believe that Caey-kun is prepared to accept the responsibilities of managing the drama club."

That thought did make having to wait a little more bearable, but even so... What the hell had Caey text Peach?

"I'll deliver it to you with the completed script in two days," Peach promised. "Before I begin, however, considering that this will be your final production before quitting for next year, do you have any special requests regarding the script, Rue-senpai?"

They wanted to complain about how they were supposed to request anything while knowing absolutely nothing about what Peach was planning, but that was stupid considering he very rarely had more than just a basic idea of what the girl was planning on writing at all, and had only ever submitted vague ideas in the past as it was. With that in mind, there was something they'd been thinking about trying, and now that it was his last chance... "Earlier this year I had the thought of attempting a musical--"

"No," both Peach and Mikoto interrupted simultaneously, even going so far as to cross their arms in X marks. Seriously, what the hell? They both seemed to absolutely hate musicals for some reason? Rue supposed they'd have to hold that thought for university, then. It was a little disappointing since hearing Caey sing would have been interesting, but if Peach didn't want to write a musical, then there was no point in pushing for one.

"Then..." they wracked their brain for something else he hadn't accomplished in drama club, and was surprised that nothing immediately came to mind. As it turned out, he'd have very little left to regret upon graduation. “Hey I heard Caey is moving schools? why is that-?” Mikoto piped up.

Fuck, Rue had completely forgotten about Caey’s new lover. Saio apparently.

“Um I honestly don’t know? maybe it’s because of her mother?” Rue lied, keeping the secret.

"As expected from Senpai," Peach said with a nod, turning back to Mikoto to say, "If you can join me in the other room, there are a few plot points to discuss."

Rue hadn’t really thought about the other girl, Caey’s obsessed with. Troy Academy? Wasn’t that the school beside Roman’s? As expected Rue had a wonderful plan to Saio themselves.

========

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ayo ayo saio is gonna appear in Chapter Nine I’m guessing.


	8. Investigators

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A well thought out plan just for the two academies to attack.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Just a reminder to say that all of the events, personalities, and ages depicted in the story are all false. As the character’s represent the people, Brii knows. - Thank you

Ivy had woken up earlier than expected on a monday morning. Trying to find the motivation on to why she should go to school. As a recap from earlier events, she had stumbled upon Roman Academy’s prestigious Simp’s Club and was crowned upon as a new host. She didn’t want to join, but her shyness got the best of her. 

Ivy pulled themselves together before leaving her bedroom to clean up. After a quick bite of breakfast she glanced at the pink note stuck onto the fridge. 

“Ivy I’ll be back by Tuesday night, my work shifts are getting longer here at the hospital. I have slipped additional cash near my nightstand if you need groceries”. Her mother was right, Ivy took the yen and stuffed it in her wallet. 

Slipping into her fresh-not-so-worn-out school uniform, she left the house for the nearest train station.

“7:04 am” she glanced down at her watch. It was way to early for class to start as it starts at eight-thirty. But it was perfect and well-accordingly to her plan. After meeting such a dumb club she were to avoid them at all costs. The only problem that they were to face was having Angela(first-year host) in her classroom. 

Ivy had managed to slip into the school building. It was quieter and more peaceful without all the students hurrying from one class to another. Teachers had greeted Ivy with a warm smile and had given the questions, of “My- your early today”, “Do you have any idea why your entering the school at this time?”, “Great! now you don’t have to worry about being late”

Walking up the stairs, the orange-tinted morning sun peaked its way into the wide opening windows. Setting the scene cinematic than it sounded. 

She made her way to her classroom, to find a posh figure standing at one of the desks, overlooking the occasional sunrise. 

“Your early, Banza” the soothing familiar voice made its way to Ivy’s lingering ears.

“Kira-senpai?” Ivy whispered under their breath, before stepping back a bit.

“Why’d you leave the clubroom so early~ the fun only had begun that very evening!” Kira smiled before stepping closer and closer to Ivy. Leaning their mouth close to Ivy’s ear. “We would’ve had a blast.”

“Stop it!” Ivy pushed Kira away. Rubbing the soles of their right ear. “What the hell is wrong with you people- fucking sickos, just leave me alone!”

“I’m afraid I can’t do that Ivy, you see your brothe-“

“What’s this got to do with Tomoda? Huh? Tell me! Maybe I can understand better, without having to be harrased into a group of assholes”.

“That’s against club protocols, as Founder Lily agreed that we do not speak in Tomoda’s name” Kira frowned, scrunching up their eyebrows more.

“I don’t give a fuck about your ‘Lily Akiyama’ shit because obviously me and Tomoda are family-related. And I have the right to know-“ Ivy raised her voice louder, not so loud that any teachers would’ve peaked into the room. 

“Oh yeah? I’d like to see your ass try, princess” Kira smirked, grabbing Ivy’s wrists and slamming them to the nearest wall. 

The sound of the shifting classroom doors came to place. Ivy knew what it had to be- either a teacher or a mere student who had happened to stumble upon a makeout session about to set place.

Ivy peered behind Kira’s figure to see a tall boy emerge from the doors, ignoring them as he sat down into his desk. Not even caring one bit of Ivy’s struggle.

“Good Morning Cy, how’d your evening feel?” Kira glanced over to the boy who managed to have a ice-bag attached to his face.

“I met Rue lurking around my house, before they started beating the shit out of me.” Cy pouted, eyes lingering to where Ivy were.

“I’ve heard that Caey-kun had received a girlfriend and will be moving schools. Is that your doing Cy?” Kira had released Ivy from their grip, now heading to Cy’s desk. 

Kira had then whispered into Cy’s profound ear. “Your lucky we aren’t in that clubroom of ours, or I would’ve pulled that collar on that sexy neck of yours~”.

As Kira watched with amusement the show that was happening in front of them. Watching Cy’s face flushed and hidden behind multiple strands of hair like he was trying to dissapear.

Kira had then stood up, wiping off invisible dust from her school blouse. Before leaving both of the scared first year’s in shock. The classroom had turned quiet. Only the shifting of feet, echoed throughout the hallways.

“You know the Simp Club too?” Cy had broken the silence between the two. He turned around from his chair to find Ivy crouching on the floor, hands in face. “Are you okay? um..”

“It’s Ivy...Ivy Banza, and yeah I know them” Ivy said, before going to her assigned desk. “Anyways...why are you in the club?”

“Um..I was uh- I thought the club was fun so I joined” Cy lied, he knew that he was badly framed for sexual harassment on Lily. Even though he didn’t and it was all a misunderstanding.

“It doesn’t seem fun at all” Ivy frowns and looks out from the window. The time had passed to 7:30 am. Yet there still was an hour left before the school was overloaded with students.

The sliding door of the classroom shifted. As two figures entered the room.  
They had the same school uniforms as all the other students except they had a light blue banners attached to their shoulders. 

“Attention students! erm I guess you two I mean” The taller female exclaimed. “Names please, Yuri!!”. 

The shorter student named Yuri fumbled around their papers, before announcing “Hello students, Ivy Banza and Cycrus Aqui, we are the Student Council and we have important questions to ask”.

“What kind of questions?” Cy asked, already standing up.

“Type of questions? the questions that link to our mystery...the Simp Club” the taller girl said in a low tone. 

“Hey Tuna- you can’t be spitting out those things. What if they tell the Headmaster that we’re investigating two students without permission?” Yuri said 

“Don’t be silly Yuri, we’re on the teacher’s side. No one’s gonna stop us” Tuna said slyly, before asking the two students to come out of the classroom.

The four students walked throughout the school. Asking all types of questions like “Why are you in the club?” “Do you feel uncomfortable?” “Have you seen the behaviours of their hosts?”

Ivy had gave them all sorts of answers with no hesitation needed. She was gonna plummet this Simps Club into misery, before she’s dead. Cy had began to worry. What if the Club were to pummel Ivy because she’s spilling out all their mishaps and secrets.

“Interesting...” Tuna looked down at her clipboard. “It seems that Rue Dilf has been suspended for the next two days regarding misbehaviour between....Oh! Caey Virgo. On behalf of school-violence, Caey is to monitor the Club before she leaves.”

Yuri leaned to look at the clipboard, eyeing the students profile. “Aint Virgo the star leader in next month’s play?”

“That’s gonna change my dearest kouhai- as...” Yuri smiled at the attention . Tuna had stopped talking before flipping a couple more papers. “Caey had already registered for another school”.

“R-really?” Cy spoke from behind the two councillors. 

“Yes...do you know why?” Yuri peered from her shoulder, looking at the worried fidgety Cy.

“It’s complicated-“ Cy said covering his bruised cheek. 

“Hey where’d you get that punch?” Tuna stopped to slightly slap Cy’s hand away. 

The attention was too much for Cy, as he grabbed Tuna’s wrist away. She jolted from the sudden movement. He had realized what he had done and let go.

“I’m sorry, it seems you don’t like physical touch...interesting-“ Tuna rubbed her wrist, before fixing her tie. 

The students had then arrived out of the school. Before walking to the nearest academy.

“Why the hell are we walking out of Roman’s?” Ivy said as they strolled.

“I want you to see Caey’s new school and a friend of mine-“ Yuri said, tucking her hair behind her ears. The wind was pretty chilly, sweeping most of the leaves off the tree’s.

They had stopped in front of a detailed black gate. Overlooking the iron words ontop, “Troy Academy of the Talented”.

“It’s ranked second best in the district- not that it matters. But I must say the academy is very well tampered on ‘mis-behaving teens’” 

7:45 am...they still have enough time to run back to campus. Unless the person they plan on meeting have other things up their sleeve. They didn’t exactly enter the school right then and there, instead they wandered into the back. Where it led to the big open field.

It was much different than Roman’s, because of the huge lap course set out. A particular person was seen running on it. Then it clicked for Ivy- that sudden feeling erupting from her chest. The heart playing an enthralling beat punding itself against the ribcage. The way their sweat glistening in the morning dew. Her mind probably went into airplane mode because the only thing she had to say was-

“They’re beautiful”

“Yes, Lay is a very beautiful student at her age-“ Tuna looked at her watch. “we better have a quick meeting with her and we’ll be on our way!”

The group had anticipated to wave at Lay on the running course. They had stopped what they were doing and made their way to the four of em’.

“My, my, Yuri and Tuna! what brings you fellow Roman friends of mine?” Lay had grabbed a towel from a nearby bleacher and started patting down her neck. Glancing at the two students she hadn’t seen before.

“Well you see Lay, do you remember we talked on the phone about the Simp Club?” Yuri asked, admiring the way Lay looked.

“Hm! Yes I remember, always hated those obnoxious brats- of all people why must you be pampered by stupid hosts, when you have the ability to do it yourself?” Lay exclaimed, laughing at her own jokes.

“Can we talk about this inside? It’s pretty cold damn it—“ Ivy shivered, putting her arms around themselves.

They all agreed to enter campuses grounds. ‘Holy smokes’ Cy had thought looking at all the interior details of the school. Every wall was flooded with a darkscale of colours. Large vertical banners were hung on the school’s astounding double stairs. Here Cy had been walking into one of the most beautiful schools in one of the biggest cities in the world, about as far from his home as he could get while remaining on the planet. And yet he felt a certain familiarity. It wasn’t the same like in America, but the feel was same. The school had a awful dark vibe. Not freelike back in Roman. The student uniforms had a colour palette of Crimson-red and dark blues. The group had ventured off to one of the school offices. All cramped up in the dark, scenic displayed office. Filled with expensive artifacts, Ivy couldn’t imagine the prices of. Carpets underneath the soles of their feet, gave a honest-to-god horrible pattern. Dark oak chairs had assembled around the desk.

“Your part of the school committee?” Cy had looked down to see Lay’s name placed on the desk.

“Of course, all school committee’s and councils from each school district are connected by contact and important events.” Yuri explained, trying to make herself look smart by pointing her finger up and down.

“It’s a very glooming looking school, but it calms the eyes! ‘Resist neon colours and welcome the shades!’ My meditator told me that!” Lay had always joked around of having her own meditators and private mansion. “Now tell me Tuna- who are these lovely students you have brought me.”

“We have gathered information that the two have had close contact to the clubs manager, Akiyama.” Tuna had set out the files she had been holding onto the desk.

Lay had carefully considered taking a peek at them, licking her finger before turning each page. “It seems that you didn’t want to be in this club after all, but why are you in it?”

“Um actual-“ Cy was caught off by Ivy, who had started ranting about the entire mess she’d been in and how she forced by her beauty.

Lay had started scratching their head looking at Ivy with deep concern and sorrow. She had then clasped onto Ivy’s free hand and soothed it. “Im so sorry you had to go through something like that. I will of course deal with Akiyama and the school board about this.”

“Wait so now we’re framing Lily, by telling the board?” Cy stood up from his chair recklessly, putting his hands onto the desk.

“Sir whoever you are, I might as well tell you to LEAVE!” Lay yelled.

“Oh no no no no! Lay-kun I will deeply say sorry for his misunderstandings, as he has gotten too attached to Akiyama these past days...” Tuna had started rubbing her hands together and praying. Giving murderous looks at Cy.

“Of course! boys like him always get attached to measly selfish girls like Lily-“.

Cy had always wondered on what made Lily’s personality far from the others. It seemed very ‘dominant’, weird but special. It was amazing how Cy hadn’t found himself in jail already, if it hadn’t been for Lily. Setting that aside, there was one problem he couldn’t figure out. “Why collars? why the master kinks? and what in the hell did she talk about him looking like a ‘Maya’?”

“Why are we talking about the Simp Club and it’s problems? I don’t see anything wrong wit-“ Cy was cut off again by the usual group of girls.

“As a first year two years ago, I have discovered the disappearance of Maya Sunarin- My friends cousin. I did a little digging to find about the Murder at Roman Academy. Psh those teachers had to hide the evidence which led to Akiyama. I overheard my principal talking about Akiyama at the crime scene when Maya was found dead...I’m guessing Lily had developed a club to use it as a coping mechanism, distracting themselves about their past.”

The Roman students eagerly heard it all as they gave each others looks of awe and concern. 

“What about their hosts? It’s weird to say how they joined suddenly at the first day of school..” Ivy had reclaimed herself seeing Angela as a first year.

“I don’t really know...the hosts seem just like her, except without the murderous background”. Tuna had finished answering Ivy’s question.

“Did you hear about the new transfer student in 2-A that will come eventually in two days?” Yuri spiked up the question to Lay.

“Yes...I have heard it from the bustling crowd of second years..why?” Yuri pointed at the file below. Lay had already began looking at the folder.

“Me and Tuna had found Caey secretly dating one of the students who attend here. It seems that it goes against the Club’s rules, making her move. Meaning it would be awfully great for you to keep on eye on Virgo for us.” 

“The investigation of Lily Akiyama is to start. As of now, we will greatly watch the Club from afar and have weekly reports in my office” Lay announced before putting the papers into her filing cabinet. 

“Thank you for having us Lay, it’s a pleasure working with you” Ivy had shaked her hand. They left the school grounds before running back to their classes. Tuna and Yuri had given their thanks to the first years.

Cy knew- just right there in the pit of his stomach. Something bad was about to unravel. The clash between two Academies against the Simp Club. And he was about to see it all.


	9. Suspension

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Saio meets Rue. Rue meets Saio. There’s eye stares and small chats. Lay finds herself stalking them. It’s a whole chapter to feast on 😌

Rue had stayed the night at Peaches apartment. Seeing as how Rue has plenty of time to work on the backgrounds all day the following morning, they stopped working shortly after Mikoto went home and started going through their cell phone messages. 

As expected, Rue received dozens of angry texts, which they shared with Peach after she completed the rough draft, as promised. 

Rue was so pleased by the glimpse of what girls really wrote when they were angry (some of them were actually kind of frightening), that they finally stopped casually mocking them about the 'Yumeneko-sensei' mistake.

They put together a carefully worded apology to the fangirls and replied to them all, then went on to answer all the concerned texts from Rue’s friends and drama club members, explaining to them what was going on. 

There was a message from their Manager Lily as well, so they informed Lily that she'd be expecting Rue’s absence in the Club and Caey’s attendance for the next two days. 

Rue then sent a message to their fellow drama members to explain that Peach would be delivering a new script for them to look over and critique as necessary. 

Lastly, there was a text from Caey herself: [Evening, Rue-chan-senpai! I haven't heard anything yet so I hope your meeting with Yumeneko-sensei went well!] 

Rue had to correct her right away before Peach would go back in her room again.[The first draft of your requested script will be delivered to Tsuda tomorrow morning. I made a mistake, though--the mangaka's name is actually Yumeno.] - Rue

Rue was just about to dig into the late meal Peach was providing, but their phone buzzed again almost immediately. 

Caey must have been in the middle of playing on her cell if she was able to respond so quickly. [Please thank Yumeno-sensei for me! I can't wait to read the script she wrote for me! Haha, so even Senpai makes mistakes like that sometimes, just like that time with Mikoto! Do you like cats?] - Caey

They couldn't wait to read it either-- Peach and Mikoto had made such a fuss that they’d nearly prostrated themselves in desperate curiosity. 

[You'll probably get to read it before me since she appears to be treating it as a graduation gift, so she won't let me see it until it's done. And small cats are okay, I guess.] - Rue

[Why?] - Caey

[I hope she's able to finish it soon, then. It's important that you like the script so I hope she doesn't spend too much time on one you might dislike. And I asked because sometimes you're like a cat, Senpai!] - Caey

Honestly, where did she get these ideas? [The script should only take a few days. How am I 'like a cat', Caey?] - Rue

[There is this neighbor cat I know that likes to roll on its back while it naps, but if you try to pet its belly, it attacks! It reminds me of you sometimes!] - Caey

Rue actually laughed a bit at the mental image of the cat going berserk, and repeated the joke for Peaches benefit when she looked up in curiosity. 

[It will obviously happen when you prod either people or animals in vulnerable areas.]. - Rue

[I know, but his soft fuzzy belly is just way too tempting to ignore!] - Caey

The parallel between them and the cat was getting a little too hard to ignore, too. Time to change the subject.

[How is your face, Caey?] - Rue

[Oh, I put ice on it like you said, but it started to bruise a bit anyway. It's freezing!] - Caeg

Shit. [Are you going to be okay to go to school tomorrow?] - Rue

[Haha, Senpai, it's just a bruise! I have plenty of concealer at home to hide every possible facial blemish imaginable!] - Caey

She could reassure them as much as she wanted, but they’d still feel like a heel, regardless.

[Right... Anyway, the other drama members will be picking you up for club meetings so don't give them any trouble.] - Rue

[Don't worry, Senpai! I promise I'll be obedient!] - Caey

She could say that as much as she wanted, too, but Rue still had their doubts that she'd change so easily for their sake, let alone just because they asked. 

Yet, at the same time, they owed her the benefit of the doubt. Rue stared at the last message for a while before carefully typing out: 

[I'm sorry for hitting you, Caey.] - Rue

They had to wait a little longer for her reply this time. 

[It's a little weird to put it into words like this but I actually kind of liked how you were never afraid to be rough with me.] - Caey

Rue's face heated up immediately upon reading that. Damn it, did Caey even realize what she was saying?! At least Peach, sitting across the table from them, was oblivious to flushed faces. 

Rue struggled to construct a sensible reply.

[Regardless, it isn't appropriate for a school setting. If you want me to hit you then it can't be on school property anymore.] 

Rue ended up pressing the send button before reading that over properly, and the horror of its suggestiveness knocked them off their knees and onto their side. 

There was no way Peach missed that.  
"You're ready to sleep already? But you haven't even touched your meal..."

They were glad that Peach was an idiot sometimes, but this was almost too much. "I'll be back up in a second," they answered. Just as soon as they cooled off.

Rue’s phone buzzed again. 

[Maybe Senpai can just pinch me instead?] - Caey

Rue needed someone to pinch them because the conversation was unbelievable. Still, they needed something to keep Caey in line... 

[Maybe. Good night, Caey.] - Rue

[Good night, Rue-chan-senpai<3] - Caey

They ended up staring at that message for a long time before Rue was able to sit up again, but even then their stomach felt so odd Rue barely was able to eat much at all, and, later, they felt like they’d stared at the ceiling for hours before they were finally able to fall asleep.

========

Monday

Rue woke the next morning just as Peach was leaving for school. 

"I left some breakfast out for you, and lunch can be the leftovers in the fridge from last night. I'll trust the apartment and the backgrounds with you, Rue-senpai. As of now...enjoy your suspension.”

Rue sat up with a yawn and replied, "Yeah--good luck with the script today, Peach."

When the door closed behind her, it occured to Rue that this was the first time they'd thought of a suspension as an actual punishment. 

Angsting about it wouldn't get them anywhere, though, so Rue just tried to make the best of it and enjoyed a leisurely morning routine at Peaches apartment for once, since things were usually hectic as they both struggled to get ready for school after a long night of work. 

They also attempted to savor the quiet, but found Rue missed the usual conversation, and even though they were far more productive, it was far less fun, and their will to continue working had nearly dried up by the time it was finally noon. 

As they ate lunch, Rue was actually starting to worry that they'd end up running out of work to do, because what were they supposed to occupy themselves with, then? 

Luckily, a text message from their drama members arrived just in time to distract them from woes. 

[Afternoon, President! I was instructed to not spoil the plot for you, but aside from a few minor issues, the script is looking good! I gave it back to Peach-kun with the suggested revisions already, so it's possible that she might finish it earlier than expected. It's really unfortunate that I won't be able to watch the final production in person--hopefully someone will be willing to send me a DVD recording.]

[I'll be sure to send you a copy as long as you remember to share your new address. What about costumes and props?]

[I'll let you know when I know. As for costumes, we should have almost everything we need already, though of course we'll have to do the usual alterations to ensure that everything fits properly. We should be able to reuse some of the props and backdrops as well, but there are a couple large pieces we'll have to construct from scratch.]

The usual workload, then. 

[Right--feel free to hold auditions among the club members over the next two days, and have the prop team start on any minor pieces we'll need. That should be more than enough to keep everyone busy until I'm back.]

[Speaking of which, you might have some trouble with Caey's fanbase. I've received nearly a dozen complaints already even with Caey herself doing all she can to mollify the situation. Is there anything I can do to help stop this from getting out of control?]

Maybe it was a good thing that Rue had been suspended, after all. The principal knew exactly what they were doing. They'd probably prevented a riot. 

[You can say that I've apologized and Caey and I are on good terms. Also, I'll be putting more effort into controlling my temper. Aside from that, I don't think there's much else anyone can do but wait and see how everything turns out.]

[I suppose so. Well, I better get back to my classroom since lunch is nearly over. Have a good afternoon, President.]

[Good luck with club activities after school.] 

Rue put down their phone and finished eating their lunch. Back to work they went, and just as they feared, there wasn't enough left to occupy them for much more than an hour. 

Fortunately, Rue had realized about something. Caey had a new girlfriend. And why wouldn’t it be nice to be on good terms with them? Saio was their name...Troy Academy huh? Rue thought.

A cold shard of fear passed through their body. As they gathered their jacket and headed out. A school suspension mesnt that they weren’t welcome back at school yet, or any intentions with the students. Going to Troy Academy won’t hurt.

Rue had then passed Roman’s and a couple of blocks. Before seeing the Academy up close. 

Rue approached a couple of students who were chatting. Apparently it was 2:30, just in time for the schools hourly break.

“Hello! Do you know who Saio is?”

“...you mean Saio from 2-A?, yes of course.” The student remarked 

“Great! Um I’m a friend of hers and would like to meet them.”

“You’ll see her in room 102”

Rue slipped themselves into the Academy, seeing how grim and somewhat vibing feeling from the appearance. Lots of students were roaming around the hallways and such. Their uniforms set the mood perfectly.

They clammered up the stairs and found the occasional room. Opening it to hear, mellow sounds of a piano playing. Windows were open, as daylight itself slipped in. The wind was swirling silently in the room. A grand piano displayed in the middle of the room. Music sheets scattered everywhere and some pinned to the walls. Rue found a student playing the sounds. Their luscious brown locks, played against the breeze.

It was a pretty sight.

Rue cleared their throat hard enough for the student to hear. They turned around to find Rue at the doorway.

“...You must be Rue..” the student gave a blissful smile before returning to play the piano.

“...and you must be Saio...” Rue said. 

“I suppose we both know each other-“ Saio kept her eyes peeled on the notes.

“Do you know Caey? I mean I’m her president of the Drama Cl-“

“Of course! she’s my girlfriend, cute thing she is right? I’ve heard many stories about you.” Saio stopped and turned around. “and I mean many.”

Rue felt uncomfortable at the amount of stress that has built up. But they’ve learnt to control their feelings, yes feelings. Happy thoughts...all Rue had to do was give Saio her congratulations.

“C-CONGRATULATIONS ON HAVING A BEAUTIFUL, TALENTED, AND CHARMING GIRL LIKE CAEY!!” Rue held out their hand. They then heard laughter.

Apparently Rue’s voice had attracted most of the students from the hallway as they peered into the small room.

“It seems you’ve attracted quite the attention I must say...But thank you Rue, I will gladly deal with Caey with my upmost care....not like you did.” Saio had said before leaving the room, not shaking Rue’s hand at all.

And there stood Rue, the centre of attention. Troy Academy will definitely remember their name.

“So your Rue Dilf?” Lay questioned before entering the room.

“Who are you-“ Rue had sat down onto a lone chair.

“Oh no! don’t worry, let’s just say im part of the school committee. And well, I have an offer to give~”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Chapter 10 will be so sexy i swear 😩


	10. Down to Earth

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Rue’s suspension has come to an end. Including Caey’s time at the Simps Club.

On the second day of their suspension, Rue nearly lost their mind out of sheer boredom. Either they were getting way too fast at drawing backgrounds or Peach just hadn't been as productive as she'd appeared to have been last night. 

Rue recalls from that strange student from yesterday. They remember meeting Saio and Lay....both who knew who Caey was. Lay had introduced themselves to Rue and offered redemption/revenge. As seemingly dumb as it sounds, Rue had taken the time to listen to her. 

_____

“What do you mean offer?” Rue asked.

Lay closed the door behind them and approached, taking another chair from behind the closet. 

“I’ve heard Saio brag about her girlfriend all the time...it’s simply quite annoying. Caey Virgo this! Caey Virgo that! I suppose you know who I’m talking about?”

Rue remained silent for a moment. Was Saio just using Caey for their own social status? What a snob! Caey didn’t see it in Saio yet, but obviously she needed to know. 

“So what do you think? You want me to help you? get your pretty girl back into those lovely arms of yours?” Lay whispered, giving off those smug smiles.

“....yes”

_____

Rue was loath to admit that may have been their fault for bothering Peach continuously about the script.

Regardless, this time they ended up completing the manga panels before noon, and the small amount of homework Rue received from their friend last night was complete after only twenty minutes.

Eventually, Peach came home to find a huge mess of paper scribblings, piles of manga anthologies, and Rue with their face pressed against the table. Hearing them come inside, Rue turned their head just enough to see Peach properly, and announced, "We have to burn down the school."

Their friend almost turned around and left the apartment again before Rue realized they’d been misunderstood. "I meant Troy’s Academy! It's a mess! It's in its own dimensional pocket of supposedly set locations randomly moving, or is actually magical like that one wizard school able to change at will! There's no choice but to tear it down and rebuild it!" Rue couldn't remember getting to their feet, but there they were, blocking Peaches exit from the building.

Peach placed one hand on Rue’s shoulder and patted their senpai's head with the other, unknowingly sparking a new surge of irritation. "What a relief... And here I was thinking that Rue-senpai had suddenly transformed into a delinquent! it would also have been legitimately terrifying."

If he only knew... "Peach," Rue growled as a warning, though the taller girl continued to pat their head anyway, "are you even listening to me?!"

She nodded indulgently before releasing her simmering senpai. "Of course, of course. Allow me to drop off a few things while you visit the restroom and then we can go to a cafe or ramen stand and talk some more about it in a location far less likely to worsen the 'cabin fever' phenomenon."

Rue allowed themselves to be herded into the bathroom, where they noted that 'frazzled' would be an accurate description of their general appearance, Rue’s hair in particular going off in every direction. 

They washed their face, feeling humiliated, and fixed their hair. Rue rejoined Peach in her living room to help clean up the mess and apologize.

They ended up going to a ramen stand, where Rue explained their “Troy Academy Experience” problem properly, and Peach began to understand the issue. In the end, they both agreed that it would be best to just roll with it and make the effort to keep everything consistent from then on. Peach had started noting down stuff on her notepad as Rue explained about Saio.

“What are you doing-?” Rue stopped to peek at Peaches pad.

“Since your story is so interesting, I might as well use it for the mangaka’s next chapter”.

Rue held themselves back from expressing any doubts that they might not be able to continue helping Peach with the manga since they had a stressful enough day already.

When Rue stepped back into the apartment, they realized with a bit of a thrill that they’d be permitted to attend classes the next morning. Technically, their suspension was now over.

Peach still refused to hand over the script, though, saying that the deal had been to turn it over to Rue tomorrow morning. Rue seethed but by this point, knew it would be pointless to argue.

========

Rue got their revenge by being sure to wake Peach up unnecessarily early that morning, knowing full well that if they got up at the usual time, the morning would be far too hectic to allow her the time to do much more than give the script more than a cursory glance before they had to go to class. 

Even so, Peach didn't seem very concerned by getting nearly an hour less sleep than planned, and handed over the script without even having to be prompted. 

Rue wanted to read it then and there, but something about Peaches expression and posture bothered them. Yes, there were the occasions in which Peach hovered a bit as Rue examined their work, perhaps a bit anxious about her opinion of it, but her current level of interest was completely off the charts of normal human behavior. 

There was no damn way Rue was going to allow that to happen without a fight. Rue slowly slid the report cover and its contents into their bag, staring down Peach all the way through the motion. 

Peach remained as stoic as usual, stepping aside to prepare breakfast, yet, at the same time, refused to let Rue out of her sight. Since they’d rather eat food cooked properly, Rue dismissed the thought of sneaking away to read it privately, since attempting that would distract Peach from the task and probably end up burning something. 

In that case, they may as well just flee the apartment outright. Not wanting to skip breakfast, though, Rue willed themselves to be patient for just a little while longer. That meal ended up being one of the more awkward moments they'd experienced, but that was nothing compared to the walk to school.

They started out walking in silence, but despite being outrageously early for their classes, they both suddenly began to jog, then sprint as fast as they could. Unfortunately for Rue, the combination of a longer stride and an athletic background meant that Peach had absolutely no trouble at all keeping up even as they passed through the school gates almost an hour before classes started. Rue paused to rest against the school building, breathing hard, but not winded enough to prevent them from commenting, "Nice day for a jog," through gritted teeth. 

Peach agreed, completely unaffected by the sarcasm.

"I was surprised, though--you're not usually so energetic in the morning, Senpai," she observed.

"I suppose I was more anxious to return to school than I thought," Rue replied, stalling now, as they began to brainstorm ideas on how they were going to escape Peach long enough to at least read the script before classes began.

Inspiration struck, and Rue didn't have to dig too deep to summon the acting skill necessary to fuel their distraction. 

First, they opened the school door wide, as if to hold it open for Peach, but then paused as if they'd seen something in the reflection, and turned their head to peer back past Peach in curiosity. "Eh, is that first year confessing to someone over there?"

Peach immediately whirled around on the spot, and Rue took their chance to sprint inside, offering a silent apology to the school for bypassing the shoe lockers and continuing on through the halls in their outdoor footwear. It was the only way they’d be able to secure any substantial lead on the former athlete, and he desperately needed at least ten seconds to slip into an unoccupied room unnoticed.

The unfortunate bit was that the hall Rue chosen just happened to be the one that, apparently, all the early arriving students were assigned classrooms. They could see them all chatting happily to one another through the class windows--there was no way an irritated senpai could duck inside without causing any suspicious fuss among the younger students. 

Even if they stayed quiet, it would be a conspicuous silence. Rue could hear another set of fast falling footsteps behind them, now, which left only the bathroom as an option to slip out of sight. They hurriedly shoved the door shut behind them as fast as they could, fighting against the hydraulics of the door closer mechanism so it would appear as through no one had recently entered, then chose a stall midway down the line, latching the door shut behind them and sitting on the toilet tank so their legs would remain out of sight. 

From there, Rue struggled to gain control of their breathing and rapidly beating heart, trying to remain as quiet as physically possible in case Peach stepped inside.

Rue painstakingly counted to ten before cautiously removing the script from their bag. It was dutifully contained within a pristine blue report cover, and when they flipped it open, the very first page was a plastic sheet protector containing a note, judging by the handwriting and smoothed out creases, appeared to be Caey’s writing. Along with the other pages of the drama script. Rue braced themselves before beginning to read, but quickly discovered that they weren’t at all prepared for the contents. In face, they never would have been ready to read it.

~~~Good evening, Yumeneko-sensei!(a fake surname given by Rue which mimics Peach. As none of the students at school dont know that Rue, Mikoto, and Peach make a living of drawing a manga - Brii Note) I hope this note finds you well. My name is Caey Virgo, and through a sudden change, it appears as though I will be subbing the Drama Club presidency from your friend Rue-senpai upon the two days of their suspension. I was informed by them that you have been writing scripts for our club's benefit for some time now, and I personally had a great deal of fun performing the roles you have written for me. You have my deepest gratitude and fondest wish to continue to rely upon your exceptional writing.

At this time, I would like to humbly make my first request for a truly unique script. As I mentioned before, Rue-senpai is suspended, and I worry that they will remain unfulfilled due to a dream they were unable to achieve during their time here at Roman Academy. I am afraid that I was mistaken about some things, but I am certain of this: when Rue-senpai entered this school, they intended to become a lead actor in our drama club, but despite their great talent, I have neglected the feelings Rue has given me. And acted horribly against them. I continue to have a love interactions with my fans and my greatest girlfriend Saio. I have treated Rue the worst way possible. 

Therefore, it is my greatest desire to give Rue an apology. As a gift to our mutual acquaintance, in observation of   
my school-leaving, please write a script especially designed where Rue-senpai can lead and can perform without any worry of being overshadowed by the supporting cast, even if they happen to be taller. Rue-senpai's stage presence is so great that I know they will shine under the spotlight regardless, so please do your best to write a role Rue will be unable to pass off to me! You are a very good playwright, Yumeneko-sensei, so I'm sure you'll be able to manage it!  
However, please please please be sure to make sure that this is all okay with Rue-senpai first!!!!!!! ~~~  
As Rue read the note, they knew that they’d made the right decision to hide from Peach, because there was no way Rue would be able to mask how affected they were at the revelation of Caey's efforts to help them--and even her misguided attempts to treat them like a princess had become something Rue could regard with a certain amount of fondness, now, knowing that she was willing to go so far in pursuit of their happiness, even as themselves had ruthlessly fought her.

A warm feeling began to spread through their body, and Rue was mortified as the flush blossomed on their face. They couldn't believe this was happening... and for it to be Caey of all people... which was not to say they were particularly upset about that in itself, but there were so many complications about the very idea of it that they struggled with the thought of even attempting to do anything about it.

In the first place, Rue was obviously misinterpreting simple feelings of admiration as something else. And, considering Caey’s spontaneous personality, they couldn't think of her decision to attend Roman Academy as more than a whim, but the fact that her position on the matter hadn't changed hinted at something with more permanence, considering how she remained near them, even enduring their harsh treatment in the process. And there she was, writing a well-written note dedicated for Rue. 

Rue’s heart was already twisting itself up in knots, so when a sudden shadow was cast over the paper and they looked up to see Peach peering over the top of the toilet stall at them, they nearly fell off the toilet tank in full cardiac arrest. After regaining their balance and shoving the script back into their bag, Rue shouted, "Peach, how exactly would you explain yourself if you'd looked in on someone taking a shit just now?!"

She didn't look particularly concerned about that very real possibility as she replied, "Ah, in that case, the punishment would have fit the crime, perfectly instantaneously. You shouldn’t be stealing my scripts without my permission Senpai-“

Rue really didn't want to think about how they’d be penciling in the background of a toilet stall in a few weeks time, all the while staring at the blushing girl perched atop the toilet tank, reading a love letter, but now that it was almost certainly going to happen, they had to deal with it, because murdering Peach was out of the question. Even if it was incredibly tempting. Instead, they only committed the slightly petty act of stalking out of the stall without another word to the other female, and headed to the sink to splash some cold water on their face to help calm down their now furious flush.

As expected, Peach wasn't affected at all by the silent treatment. "I've been considering the possibility for some time, now, considering the degree of attachment, but after reading that note, I cannot help but wonder if there's something more than the typical senpai/kouhai relationship going on."

Rebellious, Rue dried their face and replied, "Was there ever actually anything typical about me and Caey in the first place?"

Peach seemed to accept that Rue wasn't planning to give a direct answer, but attempted to continue the conversation anyway. "Have you decided what you'll do? Today’s her last day here...do you plan to say goodbye at least?”

That was obvious enough, wasn't it? Rue turned back to Peach, and stated, "Caey wants to see me on stage one last time. Considering it was her talent that made Roman Academy's Drama Club so successful over the months, I can hardly refuse to indulge her one simple request."

Their conversation was briefly interrupted by another person entering the room to use the facilities, and the two of them decided to continue their talk in the hall. "More importantly, Rue-senpai, the greater concern is whether or not you're comfortable returning to the stage, given by your size?."

Rue stopped in their tracks, a few steps from the bathroom door, and considered Peaches words. Did people really think that Rue was afraid to take lead roles due to their size? 

If anything, their fears were rooted more in the idea planted into their first-year head that a short person lead would result in the club's ruin, as there was no way they’d be able to assemble a fanbase with enough influence to keep the club strong and popular among the students. Of was that an issue of self-confidence, in of itself?

And yet, Caey, who had accomplished everything as the male lead Rue always wished they could be, claimed that their stage presence alone was more than enough to command the audience's full attention. It made them start to wonder if height really was that vital for success, or if they’d been living under the echo of an old lie all along.

Well, they’d leave it at that for now. Regardless of the truth,

As it happened, though, Rue only managed a few more steps before a tall figure turned the corner toward them . Caey’s face lit up like the sun, and Rue froze in their tracks as though caught by Medusa's stare because their heart wasn't supposed to stop at the sight of her and they had no idea what the hell to do.

Her face turned positively green a moment later, and Rue darted forward to grab her left hand (her right now covering her mouth) and half-dragged her to the bathroom as she stumbled along behind them. They ordered Peach to watch the door as they pushed it open for her. Rue got Caey kneeling over a toilet with no time to spare. Her hair was long for it to matter but Rue made the effort to hold it back anyway, ending up cradling her head in their hands as she got sick. 

Caey heaved three times before slumping against the toilet to catch her breath, and Rue leaned over her to flush it before pulling back to rub her back and shoulders in what they hoped were soothing motions.

"Damn it, Caey," Rue said as gently as they could manage after that brief panic, "if you literally worried yourself sick over my suspension, I'm going to end up kicking your ass despite my best efforts to toe the line."

She actually shook a bit in laughter, so they were relieved she was feeling well enough to at least appreciate the joke. Caey’s coughed and spit a few times before replying, "I promise I'm not actually sick, Senpai. My breakfast was just super excited to meet you--it could not be contained!"

Since her stomach seemed to have settled, Rue helped her upright and supported her on the way to the sink to wash out her mouth since her limbs were still quaking a bit. They patiently waited with an arm around her waist and one of hers hooked around their neck while she leaned forward to take some water directly from the tap. "I've never known you to throw up for no good reason, Caey. What's really going on?" It couldn't have been because of the incident, could it? She hadn't swallowed too much blood, has she? But even if that were the case, why would her stomach still be bothered over two days later?

Caey was uncharacteristically still and silent for a moment before quietly saying, "Well, I didn't want to say anything because it's kind of gross but sometimes I feel a little nauseous during my cycle, though this is the first time it actually made me sick. Suddenly seeing you after so long must have made it bubble over."

"All right. I get it. If we could set that topic aside before I throw up, too, I'd be grateful," Rue hurriedly replied, knowing they could only blame their insistence on a clear answer for their current discomfort. They also wanted to protest her use of the phrase 'after so long', but that would have been hypocritical of them, considering how quickly Rue begun to miss her. 

"If you're done with the sink, I'll take you to the infirmary to rest until classes start." And that was another thing Rue was curious about--what was she doing at school so early? She was usually on the verge of running late thanks to flirting with girls all the way to school.  
"Thank you, Rue-senpai," she replied, obviously still feeling weak in the knees if she wasn't insisting on walking unassisted. 

They took her words as a signal to get moving, and so carefully helped her to maneuver out of the heavy swinging door. Peach had obediently waited outside with their bags, which Rue suddenly realized they'd both dropped in the hall. They took them both in his free hand and headed to their classes.

Rue was still wary as they walked down the hallway, overly conscious of everyone nearby, especially suspicious while turning corners. They felt ridiculous, but the earlier mob scene must have affected them more than they thought, because suddenly their behavior was mirroring their self-preservation habits from their first year, except instead of dodging third-years doing whatever they could to make them miserable, Rue was worried about girls of all ages proving themselves capable of craziness even worse than what he'd endured back then. 

Peach had drawn a couple examples of such 'yandere' characters, and Rue hoped they’d be able to get through the day without meeting one.

"Oh, Rue -senpai!" The sudden greeting almost caused their heart to leap up their throat, but they had the fortune of quickly recognizing Mikoto’s voice and felt silly for being startled.

Rue turned to greet him as well, and as long as they were talking, they may as well get closer to him. Strength in numbers and all that. They were less likely to be attacked by a hypothetical crazy person if he was with someone else, right? "Afternoon, Mikoto. It's been a couple days, hasn't it?" Actually, now that he thought of it, Rue hadn't seen him since that evening.

"If you have some time before the art club's activities, can I ask you a few things on the way to Caey’s classroom?"

"Oh, yes, that's fine," Mikoto agreed. "I was actually headed that way to pick up someone anyway since my art club senpai convinced them to model again."

Rue glanced around, noting just how many other students were nearby, causing another spike of apprehension. Some of them were even glancing at them and Mikoto as they passed them in the hall, and even though they couldn't know what they were thinking, Rue automatically assumed the worst. 

They found himself moving a bit closer to Mikoto, thinking that if someone jumped out toward them, they could at least make sure he wasn't accidentally hurt.

They were only a few feet away from their destination before Rue realized they had been far too distracted to ask the questions on their mind. On second thought, though, it wasn't something he wanted to talk about 'openly' either, so...  
Rue stopped him just before they reached the door, and said, "I was going to ask something, but now that we're out of time, it'll have to wait until later. Would it be all right if I met up with you after your club activities? It'll probably be evening by then so if you're hungry I can treat you to something to make up for your time."

Mikoto took a moment to think about it, then nodded. "There are some cafes and food stands close by, so we can visit one of those. That way I should still have time to go to Peach-kun's apartment for a while before I have to go home."

"I can walk you over to Peaches place after. I have a couple questions for her as--" 

“Sorry senpai, I have to go now” Mikoto remarked as he went into the art room.

Rue had then made their way to the Drama clubroom, and when they arrived, Rue was initially stumped by the gloomy atmosphere.

A handful of the members even looked betrayed, but the majority just seemed shocked or apprehensive. Rue had some damage control to do, then, and there was no better time than the present.  
Rue found Caey and dragged them to the front of the room, and made the general announcement.

"I'm sure you've all hear a generous amount of rumors over the past few days, so I'm going to take this opportunity to share the correct version and I'll be answering questions after, so try to prepare them in advance.

"A few days ago, Caey had annoyed me about a certain topic and I lashed out, nearly causing a severe wound that would have been disastrous for the entire club. Because of the seriousness of the injury, the fact that a teacher witnessed it, and that a significant amount of students made a fuss, I was suspended for two days. That part of our current situation is now resolved, though I risk further discipline if any more violence occurs. I'll appreciate any assistance in keeping my stress levels down in the meantime so it's easier for me to remain calm.

"Meanwhile, you've all undoubtedly heard by now that we'll be losing Caey to another school tomorrow. It's unfortunate, but something that cannot be changed, so we must accept it and move on. As I cannot continue being your president for next year because of my reasons, we will hold votes at the end of the year.”

After Rue dismissed the club that afternoon, Caey still remained looking somewhere between upset and confused, which was understandable after the day she'd had, and Rue could definitely relate. 

Rue and Caey remained in the theatre, casually talking. Until a certain figure entered the picture. It happened to be their very own manager, Lily Akiyama.

Lucky for them, Lily was more than clever enough to notice, too. "Anyway, Caey-kun, you really did do great work today! I didn't see any details but I glanced over from time to time and you had really great energy while directing the prop team! She must have done well, right, Rue?"

Rue was going to miss that kind of back-up over the next two months whenever they inevitably slipped up like that again. "Yeah, she got the team all fired up to start working on the major projects next week." They turned to Caey to compliment her directly. "You did a good job today, Caey. Me and Lily will definitely miss you"

"Ahaha, that's a line straight out of a cheesy anime, Pres!" Caey accused, but there was no disguising how pleased she was. "What kind of shows are you even watching?"

"I haven't had a lot of time for television lately," Rue admitted, letting her downplay the praise. "So I guess all I remember are the old cheesy lines."

Lily’s phone chose that moment to buzz. "Oh," they said, "that's from my parents. I better head home— Just wanted to let you know Caey that I’ll be holding a farewell party this evening, hope you guys join!" Lily hurriedly gathered up their things and rushed out the door with a wave.

"That's right--I have to go meet up with Mikoto," Rue announced, gathering up their things as well. Then they realized that they’d said yet another inadvisable thing out loud, and looked up at the distraught Caey. 

"I don't know why you're freaking out about it, but there's no way it's as bad as whatever you're thinking. I just need to ask her something privately."

Caey bit her lip, and then just let it all loose. "You can't date Mikoto-chan, Senpai! I mean... he has a big crush on this other girl!"

"Hah? But I knew that already," Rue replied, slinging their bag over one shoulder. "It isn't even a date in the first place."

"B-but even so..."

"It isn't like one outing is going to ruin his chances. If the rumor makes it back to that girl, maybe she'll stop taking Mikoto for granted."

Caey looked absolutely horrified at the suggestion. "No--no! You absolutely can't do that without considering Mikoto-chan's feelings! If everyone thinks he's dating someone else while he still has a crush, he'll feel like he lost his... his purity!"

"All right, all right, I won't go around telling lies. I’ll see you at the farewell party tonight"

Caey gathered up her things in record time and followed them out the door, asking, "See you soon Senpai~!"

======

"Maybe just a simple coffee shop?" Mikoto suggested. "I'm not actually all that hungry, so just some tea would be fine."

Rue hoped Mikoto hadn't lost his appetite out of nervousness or anything. For a boy to be suddenly invited out somewhere by an upperclassmen (or any girl, really) with only a vague reason was probably stressful, after all. 

When they arrived at the cafe, Rue took great care to inspect the other customers, and chose a booth in the back for privacy. They didn't recognize anyone, and no one was wearing a Roman Academy uniform, but if they let down their guard and chose a table in view of the window, they just knew, without a doubt, that Caey would happen to walk by and see them, and then there was no telling what would happen.

Since their order was so simple (two cups of tea), their waitress had them settled very quickly. The two of them enjoyed the fragrance and the heat on their fingers for a moment, as Rue considered how to go about introducing such a sensitive subject.

"What did you need to ask me about, Senpai?" Mikoto asked, so Rue supposed just getting right to the point was the way to go instead of attempting any more small talk or scenery lessons.

"Maybe you guessed, but it's about the script. I was able to finish reading it today, and I have some concerns." 

He looked a little confused, probably wondering why Rue was talking to him about it instead of Peach, but rest assured they would be having a chat with the writer as well, soon enough. 

"It isn't an issue of how it was written--it's a solid work with interesting characters, dialogue, and scenarios. What I'm curious about is why it was written." And this was the important part, so Rue watched carefully to gauge his reaction. "You and Peach are plotting something, aren't you?"

He didn't reply, but his body language spoke volumes, from the way he went very still to how he was suddenly unable to maintain eye contact. It was the confirmation on top of a mountain of evidence, based on their suspicious actions during the brainstorming and writing process and in Peaches abhorrent behavior that morning.

But it was the script itself that had ultimately revealed the plot. From the start, it was obvious who the main characters had been modeled after. Entire pages of banter had been lifted from real conversations, probably with a little help from some drama club members, to boot. The knight teased the prince about looking more like a princess, for god's sake. It was surprising to think that they thought he wouldn't have figured it out. Did they really think Rue was that oblivious? 

Okay, so, yeah, it had taken them a while to realize that Caey was a girl when they'd first met, but this was on a different level entirely.

However, while they had a hunch about their motives, Rue needed to hear it out loud just to be sure he wasn't drawing insane conclusions. "It's about me and Caey, isn't it? You and Peach are trying to trigger something with this script, right?"

That was enough to incite a response. "Rue-senpai, despite all the strange harassment and violent behavior, it's obvious that you both actually like each other! I'm friends with both of you, and half the time you're talking about each other! I don't know how else to say it other than it's like you're dating and don't even realize it!"

Oh, god, was that how it looked like from the outside? This was worse than Rue thought.

"And so, the script..."  
He nodded, and continued with a bit more reservation after that declaration. "It was supposed to provoke you both into consciously considering each other more than just Senpai and Kouhai."

Rue had to have masochistic tendencies alongside the sadistic ones, because they asked, even though they already knew the answer, "So has Caey mentioned anything like that over the past few days?"

Mikoto’s shoulders slumped. "No... aside from her suddenly taking the drama club meetings more seriously, there's been no change."

That's what Rue thought. "Look, Mikoto, I appreciate you trying to do something like that for me, so don't take this the wrong way, but... please, I need you to give it a rest."

He looked startled even though Rue made the effort to soften their words. "But it's only been a couple days--she could still--"

Rue put down their tea before the urge to smash the cup on the floor overpowered them. 

"Mikoto! Caey is dating someone!"

His eyes widened, as if he’d only just now realized that the plan had worked halfway... except not really, since they’d realized Rue’s attraction to Caey Virgo before they’d even read a word of that script.

Even so, Mikoto didn't look convinced. He opened his mouth to speak again, but something felt like it shattered inside him and he couldn't do this. 

Rue couldn't calmly debate this. They couldn't list all the reasons why they couldn't be with the girl they’d so stupidly fallen for. They couldn't explain how they had to repress those feelings to the point that they'd came out violently whenever she sparked their frustration, and now that violence was out of bounds, they had no idea what they were going to do to deal with it.

"Stop it," Rue begged him. "Please, Mikoto, just leave it alone. I can't do it. I'm not strong enough to hope for it, not like you are."

He paused with his mouth hanging open for a moment before he could respond. "B... but, I'm not... Really, I... Peach-kun..." And then the other shoe dropped and his eyes filled with tears. "Peach -kun...!"

Rue reached out and intercepted one of his hands before it reached his face, and squeezed it tight. "Sorry--I didn't intend to upset you."

Mikoto shook his head. "N-no, Rue-senpai, it's not that... I was trying to understand how you felt, so I thought about how I would feel if I felt like I didn't have a chance and I just--"

"Thanks, Mikoto, but I think I got that covered."

========

((This part is where i get super lazy sojshshsh snoresss sleepssbshjs))

Rue had then comforted Mikoto before walking him to Peaches apartment. That’s where Rue scolded Peach for making such a ridiculous script. They walked to the address Lily had given them. 

“A farewell party, huh?” Rue scoffed at the note.

They made their way to Lily’s house and was admitted in. Rue met all the other members of the Simps Club seated at Lily’s dining table.

All of them had prepared special meals and collective items/gifts. Rue wasn’t told that they would do such gratitude. They almost felt bad.

Caey had arrived shortly as each host gave a farewell speech. She had started sobbing for a bit. After the sorrowful event, Rue and Caey started walking home together.

They casually started making conversations on certain topics and especially how Caey will handle her new school.

“Aren’t you scared? going to a new school and stuff-“ Rue asked.

“No! of course not, because I have Saio to guide me.” Caey replies as she clutches close her bags of gifts.

“Right...Saio”

It seemed for some damn reason that Caey noticed the sudden tone from Rue’s voice.

“You don’t like Saio do you?” Caey said, more concerned.

“What? me? hating on Saio? no! I- I think she’s... a wonderful p-pick, I mean girlfriend for you.”

Appalled, Caey protested, "Senpai, you really didn't think I'd believe you, did you?"

Rue was surprised to hear she felt so strongly about it. 

“You obviously still have feelings for me don’t you? Can’t you just cut the slack Rue? I don’t love you and never will return that love. I’m tired of knowing some person like you likes me- I’m tired of YOU being so nosy in my relationships, and i’m terribly tired of you-“ Caey had already stopped walking and said it with such a straight face towards Rue.

God, Rue wanted to scream into a pillow and disappear from the existing world they lived in. Caey was right... why did they have the feelings of her still. Rue’s chest grew tight, before speaking back.

“Yes! The only thing I can agree on is that I still love you... and I wished I never did- it hurts Caey. I wish you can experience what I feel right now.” Rue smiled. “But look at you! fresh new you, going to a new academy. We’ll miss you at Roman’s. We really do” 

“I’ll miss you too Rue”

They both go separate ways when they go home. No text, no goodbye, nothing. Just absolute silence.

.  
.  
.

So yeah that’s the end of Rue and Caey’s highschool relationship as of now. I will definitely write about them in later chapters. But for now, let’s have them take a rest. 

please i need a better sleep schedule

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Zoo wee mama help brii by giving angst ideas so she can demolish her readers 🥶💕🙄


	11. Yumeda’s Fiancé

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A small chapter im sorry but im procrastinating a lot heheje. Yuri I’m not using your name to represent the new character- I had no ideas so oofoofkfof

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> im tired

Luckily, when Cy had arrived home last evening, his brother had still been out somewhere, so he didn't have to face any awkward conversations about his swollen bruised up cheek. All he'd really wanted to do was take a bath and go to bed, since he hadn't even been hungry, but he'd forced himself to eat some leftover food anyway since he hated waking up ravenous, not to mention that he'd need the energy reserves for Saturday's heavy lifting. 

He'd texted his brother to either pick up some takeout for himself or clean out the rest of the leftovers since he'd be going to bed early, then he'd hit the bath and relaxed as much as he could, grateful that there wasn't any homework for once, so he'd been able to go to bed right after drying his hair. After such a long, exhausting day, it hadn't been long before he'd drifted off, and ended up having a bunch of weird, whimsical dreams that he'd quickly forgotten upon waking that morning.

And, regarding waking... it was an exceptionally rare to be shaken awake by his older brother. For any other household, the one being woken up might instantly think that they were late for school, but in Cy’s case, his brother had to leave nearly an hour earlier in the morning to make it to work in time, since his workplace was a ways away even by train, so when he opened his eyes to see his brother's face, he exclaimed,

"What the hell, is the house on fire?!" He felt silly right after saying it, or course, since there wasn't an ounce of panic to be seen on Yumeda’s face.

"No, no... calm down, Cy. I just wanted to make sure you weren't sick or anything before I left. You slept for at least ten hours?" 

Cy could see the quiet concern, now that he was more aware. "If you went to sleep right after texting me, it was more like twelve..."

Cy picked up his phone and saw it was just a bit after six AM. Wow, he really had slept a lot, especially as a guy who regularly functioned on five or six hours (or less, when there was a harsh deadline to make). Still, he turned back to his brother and said, "Setting that aside for now... what are you doing up this early? You usually leave around seven, don't you?" 

That was when Cy usually got up, anyway, just in time to see his brother on his way.

He pulled an awkward face, and Cy chose not to press. Instead, he focused on freeing himself of his mangled blankets (he usually wasn't that much of a restless sleeper...) and stretched a bit once he managed to pull himself upright. 

He didn't want to think too much about what his hair looked like, since it was still a little damp when he'd gone to sleep, to tired to finish blow-drying it, and catching a cold due to sleeping with wet hair was just an old wives tale, anyway.

Finally, Yumeda said, "Don't worry about getting dressed just yet. That can wait until after I go. For now, can you come downstairs with me? I made us breakfast, so..."

Forget about his night--how much sleep had his brother gotten last night? Had he even slept at all? Cy glanced suspiciously at Yumeda’s face, but there were no dark rings under his eyes to be seen, and the rest of his appearance was immaculate as usual. 

Just when had he gotten up to prepare both of them breakfast and already be dressed and ready for school? "Ah, sure," Cy said, guessing that whatever was going on, they had about an hour to discuss it, now. "Just let me go wash my face and I'll be right down."

Accepting that answer, his brother went downstairs first. Cy went to the bathroom and sighed at the state of his bed head. A few swipes with a comb didn't improve it much, so he gave up and resolved to fix it later. Washing his face only took a minute, and then he made his way downstairs to find his brother waiting patiently, kneeling in front of their table covered with a full breakfast set for two. It was kind of like how he might expect a new bride to try to impress her husband or in-laws, or something, and Cy stopped in his tracks, not knowing how to process this, let alone how to respond. 

Cy settled on, "I didn't know you were this interested in cooking."

Yumeda laughed a bit nervously. "Well, we figured that at least one of us ought to put a little more effort into it since it seems like we won't have much longer to rely on our families to feed us properly."

Ah, so this was going to be about the future, then. Cy knelt across from him and began to fill his plate, admiring the individual dishes as he sampled from them. "Please," he said, "you've always been better at cooking than me. If you put any more effort than this into it, you'll probably make a better living through opening a restaurant than through film and photography."

That brought a smile to the surface, but his brother still held back from taking any food for himself. "It should be fine to if you wanna work part-time at a restaurant during school, I guess."

Cy swallowed his first mouthful--it really was good, 

Cy had then noticed Yumeda acting funny looking at his own hand, and when he caught sight of a metallic glint, Cy nearly leapt over the table to grab his brother's wrist. It was a simple silver band, elegant in design. Were is on any other finger, it would have been overlooked as a simple accessory, but since there wasn't a diamond, he guessed, "A promise ring?"

"It's a bit more than that," his brother admitted, "but an actual engagement ring would just be asking for trouble, not to mention insanely expensive... we were just barely able to negotiate a payment plan for these..."

Even just one engagement ring was well out of reach for a high school student, let alone two. Cy released Yumeda’s wrist so he could grasp his hand instead, and gave it a firm, solid shake. “What do you mean ‘we’?”

“Haha I forgot to tell you...but during the time you were in America still, I was already dating a girl for some time. And I was able to propose to her.” 

"You'll probably get some flak from people who don't know you well enough, but anyone who has seen the two of you together over the past year will know that after all the trials you've endured along with all the usual relationship struggles, that even though you're both still very young, it's rare to find any couple as committed to staying together. I offer you both my heartfelt congratulations and sincere apologies that Japan lacks the good sense to support marriage equality. And, if you fall behind on payments, just let me know, all right?" Cy said comforting his congratulations to his brother.

"C-cy..." Oh, shit, he seriously looked about ready to cry. Still in an emotionally compromised state himself from last night, Cy didn't think he'd be able to handle that.

Desperate to cut off the tears before they fell, Cy redirected the conversation a bit.

"Anyway, have you told anyone else yet?"

He seemed a bit sheepish. "I was planning to tell my workmates. I wanted to tell you first since you'd probably notice the ring before that, and you did. Me and the girl are planning to have the wedding in three months..”

“Not to be rude or anything..but can I meet your so-called fiancé?”

“Oh! that’s the thing I wanted to tell you after. But yeah, their name’s ‘Veronica’ and we’ll be having dinner together tomorrow night.”

They ended up talking a lot more, like they were catching up on lost time, and before they knew it, it was nearly seven and they had to rush to clean up so Yumeda could catch his train and Cy had enough time to get ready for school himself. Between the two of them, they somehow managed to pack away all the leftovers, but the dirty dishes would have to wait until that afternoon.

Cy stepped back from the mirror from fixing his hair, satisfied, and grabbed his bag. It was Thursday, which meant only half a school day, but that meant meeting Lily in the office again, even if it meant slowly grinding his heart down to dust.


	12. Practice Chapter - Choice to skip

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Random Chapter! usually they pop up during the story, but they got NOTHING to do with the storyline- they help me with story telling and writing so it’s just practice...so at least enjoy this wonderful made-up chapter of Rue and Caey as detectives!!! After chasing a brutal chase against a murderer, the two end up at a bottom of a hill, car broke down, no signal, and a blizzard is coming their way. Will they survive the night?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> you can wish to skip this chapter as it is not part of the storyline. This is for practice! But it includes Rue and Caey making out in a blizzard wtf

Doctors Orders - Brii

The hunt for their killer becomes a state-wide affair when the sixth body drops. The victims have been increasingly high-profile, which means the commissioner, the mayor, even the governor, have been coming down hard on every precinct in the state, urging them to do whatever it takes to catch their killer.

It's not even as though they're unsure who it is. By the time the third body was discovered, all signs pointed to one man: Ryan Turner.

Ryan's daughter had been brutally murdered just over a year ago, but, through a series of mishaps and ineptitude, through a justice system that's inherently flawed, her murderer — Aaron Ashford — was released on a technicality.

And Ryan decided to get his revenge.  
It started with Aaron Ashford and was followed soon after by Ashford's arresting officer. The lead detective on the Turner’s girl's case was next, aiming the police investigation towards Ryan. 

After that, both the prosecutor and the defence attorney were murdered, a sure sign that Ryan blamed absolutely everyone for Ashford's release. And then, only days ago, the judge from Ashford's trial was discovered by a cleaning lady, laid out on his king-sized bed, heart missing.

All of the victims suffered the same cause of death. Exsanguination as a consequence of the removal of their hearts.

The powers that be are more than a little apprehensive about who's next on Ryan's hit list. Which is how Rue and Caey land in upstate New York in the middle of a blizzard, chasing the most promising lead they've had in weeks.

Ryan had been caught on camera forcing a New York state senator into his trunk just a few hours ago. With the help of intermittent traffic cams and a little bit of luck, Rue and Caey catch up to Ryan just off the freeway, leading to a high-speed chase through increasingly deserted roads as the blizzard rages around them and travel becomes nearly impossible.

The treacherous conditions, however, do nothing to slow Ryan down.  
Rue and Caey keep as close as they can, the speedometer hovering chiefly around the sixty mark, even going as high as seventy on the straightaways. It's far above the speed limit on the side roads and, given the icy conditions, it's downright dangerous. 

But there's an innocent life hanging in the balance, and Rue and Caey are both well aware that losing Ryan now means another body. Rue sure as hell isn't going to have that on their conscience, especially not when they're so close to taking this guy down.

Reception is spotty as they whip through the countryside, but Caey does her best to keep the team updated as to their location and progress as Ryan leads them from side road to side road, clearly hoping to slow them down as they plough through drifts of snow and slide over icy asphalt.

Rue eases up on the gas as they approach a swath of fog that reduces visibility to practically nothing in a matter of seconds, knowing that they must be nearing a river for that much fog to gather so suddenly and in such a focused area.

But it's when Ryan's car hits a patch of black ice, spinning wildly on the two lane road, that everything goes to hell. Rue slams on the brakes to avoid the hood of Ryan's car as it streaks past their bumper — a blur of pine green that they barely even see through the fog — but the sudden lurch has them losing traction as their wheels lock on the fresh ice.

"Shit, Caey, hold on!" Rue shouts, eyes darting to Caey’s face for a fraction of a second before landing on the road again, just long enough to note the wide-eyed and ashen look that's taken over Caey’s features.

While Ryan's car tips over the edge of the bridge, headlights shining straight up into the sky before disappearing completely, Rue’s car slides down the embankment just next to the bridge. The car picks up speed before it crashes into the line of trees that border the river, the front end wrapping around one of the barren tree trunks, keeping them from plunging into the icy stream as well.

.

Rue doesn't remember much immediately after that. The world becomes a black hole, sucking them into the darkness for what could be minutes or hours. When they wake up, it's with a raging headache and a throbbing in their chest that makes breathing a damn sight harder than it ought to be.

Worse than that, though, worse than anything they could possibly imagine, is the empty seat beside them.

Rue’s head is fuzzy enough that they need several seconds to realize that the passenger door is open wide, that there's no Caey-shaped hole in their cracked and spider-webbed windshield.

Rue doesn't wait to check themselves over, doesn't wait to check their surroundings. Instead they toss their door open, the crushed metal grating and groaning as it catches on its hinges.

"Caey!" they call out, trying to push themselves from the car only to be trapped by their seat belt as it jerks tight across their bruised and battered chest. Rue falls back against their seat with a groan, fumbling with the buckle to free themselves.

The latch is jammed, refusing to give as they smash down on the release button, but it's as they struggles to free themselves that they become aware of the grunting sounds of exertion coming from nearby. 

When Rue looks up, barely able to make out Caey’s form in the ice-capped river, struggling to haul something heavy and water-logged from the sluggishly flowing stream.

"Virgo!" Rue shouts, straining against their seat belt for a moment before remembering the emergency belt cutter in the glove compartment. It doesn't take long to cut through the restraint, but by the time they do, Caey is already out of the water, sopping wet and dragging the senator onto the rocky shoreline.

"Caey, are you okay?" Rue asks breathlessly as they stumble down the gentle slope to where Caey is panting and struggling to catch her breath as she leans over the senator and checks for signs of life.

"No pulse," Caey huffs as Rue drops down beside her. "Ryan's gone. I saw him take off over the ridge."

Caey hunches over the senator, one hand over the other with her fingers interlaced, ready to perform CPR, but Rue can already tell something isn't right. As soon as Caey pushes down, their suspicions are gruesomely confirmed.

The compression breaks right through the senator's ribs, Caey’s hands sinking into the void of the man's chest cavity.

They don't even need to unbutton his shirt to know that his heart has already been removed.

Caey jerks her hands back like they've been burned, a look of absolute horror contorting his features as watered-down blood drips from their hands. The senator's shirt is bunched inside the cavern of his chest, snow pooling in the indent in a way that sends a shiver shooting down Rue’s spine, one that has nothing to do with the below-freezing temperatures.

"Jesus," Rue whispers, dipping their head and closing their eyes against the grisly sight for half a second, centering themselves to face the worst of what humanity has to offer.

When they look back up, Rue notices the ice crystals that are already forming in Caey’s hair, sees the way her body is shaking with a fine tremor that rocks them from head to toe as the water drips from her sopping frame.

"Look, there's nothing we can do for the senator," Rue says. There's already flakes of snow piling up on the hair there, falling to the ground as they pull their hand away. "We need to get you out of the cold. Now."

Caey nods absently but it takes a moment before her eyes really seem to focus.

"Um. Yeah. Okay," she says, looking down at her hands and then over to the river. "Just give me a second."

Rue doesn't particularly like the idea of Caey submerging any part of herself in the icy water again, but they understand the need to rinse the blood from her hands. It doesn't take long, thankfully; the water is cold enough that Caey can only dip and scrub his hands in short bursts, wincing each time she does, but the blood is fresh enough to come off easily.

By the time Caey is shaking water droplets from her hands, the snow is falling so heavily that Rue is worried they're going to lose visibility altogether soon enough. They make a mental note to ensure neither of them get separated or move far from the car until the worst of the storm has passed. The last thing they need is to be stranded in the middle of nowhere with no cover at all.

Which makes them wonder just how well Ryan Turner is going to fare.

They don’t dwell on it long. Right now, their only concern is getting Caey dried off and warmed up, and then getting them to safety.

"Come on, Virgo," Rue says as Caey trudges back up the slope from the river, drying her hands on her scarf as she walks. "Let's get back to the car."

"Are you okay, Rue?" Caey’s eyebrows draw in, creasing their forehead as she finally looks up at Rue. Their concern is clear as day, but Rue doesn't understand why they aren’t worried at all. The confusion must be evident on their own face, because Caey gestures to Rue’s head and says, "You're bleeding."

The rush of adrenaline from waking up after the crash and then finding Caey with the senator is starting to fade and, now that Caey’s pointed it out, they seem to remember just how much their head hurts.

"I'm fine,"Rue says, lifting their hand to their head and gently prodding the tender area, unsurprised when their fingers come back coated red and sticky. "I'm more worried about you."

Which is nothing new, really. Rue’s always worried about Caey. The girl has a tendency to get themselves involved in life-threatening situations so regularly that Rue almost expects them at this point.

That doesn't mean they worry any less.  
"I'm fine" Caey’s mouth moves on auto-pilot to deliver her standard response. 

Both of the girls wince at the identical (and completely unbelievable) answers regarding their current state, but Rue brushes it off for the time being.

"Come on." Rue drops a hand on Caey’s shoulder only to have bitterly cold water bubble up around their fingers as Caey’s wool coat squishes beneath their touch. 

Rue’s fingers feel like ice almost immediately and they can only imagine how cold Caey must be, trapped in the waterlogged fabric.

They support each other as they walk the short distance back to the car, woefully unequipped for the weather as their dress shoes slip and slide on the half-frozen ground. Rue does their best to keep some distance between them, reaching out with just one hand to steady Caey when necessary. 

They suspect that they're going to need all the dry material they have and doesn't want to risk having to abandon theirvown clothes when Caey’s already need to be removed as soon as possible.

When they get back to the site of the accident, Rue gets their first look at the mangled wreck of metal that used to be their car. The front end is crumpled in where it impacted the tree, the metal crushed and warped beyond repair. The engine is still smoking, but there doesn't seem to be any sign of a fire and Rue counts themselves lucky that their only shelter from the storm hasn't been engulfed in flames.

Thankfully, the tangle of boughs overhead helps to limit a little of the snowfall that's cascading down around them, but it's nowhere near enough to actually cut the freezing temperatures or provide any real cover.

And with their car a write-off and Ryan's in the river, they have no way to get to safety. They aren’t holding out hope on the cell service either. It was spotty out here before the storm even started; they suspect it will be worse now that the blizzard is in full force.

Rue leans into the car and pops the trunk, trying to bite back the groan that claws up their throat as blood rushes to their head at the movement. They find themselves flopping down on the seat as their vision starts to swim, but they cover the action by reaching for their phone in it's cradle on the dash. The last thing Rue needs is Caey fussing over them.

Of course, there's no signal.

Rue drops the phone on the passenger seat and gets up slowly, making sure they got their bearings before turning to the back of the car where Caey is waiting, arms wrapped tightly around herself as dhe bounces on her toes, trying to build some body heat beneath the frost that's forming over her skin and clothes.

"Take your clothes off, Virgo," Rue says as they lift the trunk and leans in to rummage through their duffle bag and emergency kit, but they freeze in place as soon as the command is out of their mouth.

The words echo those that play out in Rue’s fantasies when they’re alone at night, and their body takes an immediate interest in where their mind drifts off. 

Rue forcefully halts those thoughts and does their best to keep their voice casual as they tacks on, "We need to get you dried off before you freeze into a block of ice."

Rue finds everything theyre looking for quickly enough, but they shuffle things around just a little longer than necessary to school their features into something more neutral before they’re ready to straighten up and turn around. 

When Rue does, they find Caey looking at them intently, head cocked to the side as their eyes rake over Rue like she’s reading a book, absorbing the darkest secrets written inside.

Rue turns back to the trunk and rifles through their bag once more.

"Virgo, clothes," Rue says, perhaps a little sharper than they intended. But Caey profiling them is not an option. The last thing either of them needs is Rue’s unrequited and entirely inappropriate feelings spilling all over the place.

There's a beat of silence, broken only by the chattering of Caey’s teeth, and then the sound of sodden clothes hitting the blanket of snow on the ground.

"Uh," Caey says after a moment. "Now what?"

When Rue looks up, Caey is down to a snug pair of black shorts and her socks and shoes, her arms once again wrapped tightly around them. A grey tank top to finish the portrait. Without the layers of clothes to conceal her form, Rue is aware of just how badly she's shaking and it kicks them into action.

"Here, use this to dry off." Rue offers the sweatshirt they keep in the duffle bag of their trunk. 

They got a pair of sweatpants, too, and a couple pairs of socks, but the socks won't be enough to dry Caey off and, while they can offer Caey their coat once she’s dry, they can't exactly offer her their pants.

Not that they wouldn't.

Honestly, if it comes down to it, Rue will give Caey every stitch of their clothing if it keeps her safe until help arrives.

They just hope it doesn't come to that.  
Caey, surprisingly, does as she’s told without question, but she's shaking so hard that she nearly drops the sweatshirt as she runs it over her chest and abdomen. 

She barely manages to catch it before it hits the ground, but her hands are so stiff with cold that she's hardly able to wrap her fingers around the fabric.

Rue hesitates for only a second, deciding quickly that getting Caey dry and covered takes priority over everything else. 

"Here, let me," Rue says softly, reaching out to take the sweater.

Setting their mind to the task at hand, Rue begins to dry Caey off, running the fabric along her chest and down the flat planes of her stomach before shifting to work the sweatshirt from shoulder to fingertip, one arm at a time.

Despite the cold, Rue would swear they can feel the heat of Caey’s blush.

Rue moves around back and quickly scrubs the sweatshirt over Caey’s hair, soaking up the worst of the moisture before moving to her back, making sure she's as dry as possible from the waist up before shrugging off their own jacket and sliding it onto Caey.

"Rue, I can't—" Caey protests, though she unconsciously pulls the jacket tight around her body. Even from the back, Rue can tell she's swimming in it, and they try not to think about just how much they liked that.

"Virgo, you're not staying out here nearly naked," Rue interrupts as they lean down to dry off Caey’s legs. 

Unfortunately, bending down doesn't agree with their head and Rue ends up planting one knee in the snow to keep themselves from collapsing completely. 

They hide the unintentional trip to the ground by vigorously wiping down Caey’s legs as soon as their vision clears.

They need to remember that bending over is a bad idea.

"Rue are you s-sure you're ok-kay?" Caey asks.

Rue’s honestly more concerned about getting Caey warm than they are about themselves. Rue’s as certain as they can possibly be that the head wound is nothing major. 

At most, it's a minor concussion and they certainly survived worse than that in their years on the force.

"Yeah, I'll be fine. Let's just get you dressed so we can get in the car," Rue assures her.

With a little bit of maneuvering, they get Caey into Rue’s sweats, pulling the string as tight as it goes to keep them up on Caey’s hips, and then ditch Caey’s sopping wet socks and shoes for both pairs of dry socks and Rue’s old runners.

The clothes weren't exactly warm, being stowed in Rue’s trunk, but almost immediately Caey’s shivering becomes just a little less severe.

"That's better," Rue says as they pick up Caey’s sodden clothes and tosses them in a bag in his trunk.

"Let's get in and see if either of us has any service."

Caey nods towards the soaking garments in the back of Rue’s trunk. "My phone's in there."

Well.

It's not as if they're likely to have reception anyways, so Rue isn't too concerned about the loss, but it's one less resource at their disposal and they’re worried they're going to need everything they've got.

Rue grabs the emergency blanket and both of them crawl into the backseat, as far from the cracked windshield as possible. Even with the doors closed, there's still a cold breeze that whistles through the twisted metal frame and splintered glass, cooling the interior far more than Rue was expecting. It's cold enough that they’re not sure they'll make it through the night if no one comes for them.

Once they're settled, Rue gets the emergency blanket wrapped snug around Caey, ignoring the teeth-chattering protests that accompany the movement, and then they leans forward to grab their phone once again, praying for cell service so they can call for help.

Of course, there's still nothing.

"Okay," Rue huffs out, tucking their phone away in their pants pocket. "We'll give it an hour. If no one comes for us, I'll head up to the road, see if I can't manage to find a few bars and get in touch with the team."

"You can't go out there," Caey says immediately, her gaze darting to the window, to the snow and the fog that's gotten so bad that the river is no longer even visible.

"Well we can't exactly stay here," Rue says, shoving their hands between their thighs in a bid to warm their frozen fingertips.

The rustle of foil fills the small space as Caey maneuvers the silver rescue blanket off of herself and spreads it over both of them, pressing right up to Rue’s side so that the blanket spans them both, side to side.

"Virgo," Rue frowns. They’d rather Caey wrap up tightly in the blanket, at least until she’s warmed up from her dip in the river, but Caey cuts them off before they can object.

"Our combined body heat beneath the b-blanket will work better to warm us both than mine alone," Caey says, tentatively dropping his head to Rue’s shoulder. "Besides, our best chance of getting out of this is ensuring we're both warm and safe. Especially if you're s-set on wandering through the blizzard soon."

Rue can't exactly argue with her logic.

And so they lean back and wait.

And wait.

With every passing minute, the temperature seems to drop another degree, until they're both shivering, their breath billowing out in white puffs, a counterpart to the fog that envelopes the car. Every tremble of Caey’s body next to them causes another knot to pull taut in Rue’s stomach, until they can't just sit there and wait any longer.

Rue needs to do something to keep them safe.

(To keep Caey safe)

"Alright, Virgo, I think I've waited long enough," Rue announces, making a superhuman effort to keep their teeth from chattering as they speak. "I'm gonna climb up to the road, see if I can get a signal."

Rue pulls the shiny blanket off of them and wraps it around Caey, cacooning her in the foil. It's surprising to Rue just how quickly the cold seeps into their bones as soon as they’re uncovered. 

When Caey makes a move to follow along, Rue stills her with a hand on her chest.

"Someone needs to stay with the car," Rue says firmly. "If help comes while I'm gone, you can tell them where I went. When I hit the road, I'm gonna walk back the way we came a bit. We had pretty good service just before the crash."

They’re mostly just hoping the storm hasn't knocked out cell service completely. If they're merely in a dead zone, they’ll be able to call for help once they’re a little farther away.

Caey is quite clearly displeased with this plan.

"You're hurt. You should s-stay here and I'll head to the road," she offers.

Rue smiles fondly Caey. Always so selfless. So willing to sacrifice herself for everyone else. It's just one of the many reasons Rue found themselves falling in love with.

And suddenly their smile falters, the unexpected insight into their own emotional state taking them completely by surprise. Rue’s not sure they ever admitted that, not even to themselves, even if they suspected it for a while now.

Rue’s head injury seems to be jarring loose all types of thoughts best left buried deep inside of them.

"Virgo, you're half-undressed and still frozen to the bone. You're not going anywhere," Rue says, shaking away any thoughts that aren't directly related to their survival or rescue. "I'll be fine. I promise."

"At least take your j-jacket back," Caey insists, shrugging off Rue’s hand and dropping the blanket long enough to shimmy out of the jacket before Rue can make a move to stop her.

"Virgo, no," Rue finally manages to say as Caey tosses the jacket back to them.

"I have the shelter of the c-car, minimal as it is, and the emergency blanket. You need s-something if you're going to have any chance of making it back."

Rue takes the blanket and wraps it around Caey’s back, pulling the corner up over her head and then tucking the edges around her so she can barely even move. 

If Rue’s taking the jacket, they at least going to make sure Caey is as warm as humanly possible, even if Caey huffs out a disbelieving breath at being bundled so tight.

"Stay put, Virgo," Rue says seriously. They’re far too aware of Caey’s tendency to run off into danger at the drop of a hat. The frozen clothes in the trunk of the car are a testament to that. 

"I mean it."

"If you're not b-back in a half hour, I'm coming out to look for you."

Rue knows that tone. It's Caey’s stubborn don't-tell-me-what-to-do tone, and Rue knows that arguing now would be little more than a waste of breath. Caey has a stubborn streak a mile wide.

"Then I better get moving," Rue frowns. They slip their jacket back on, the faint scent of Caey lingering on the fabric despite Caey’s imprompt river bath.

They suddenly feels considerably warmer.

"Be safe." Caey’s words float to them quietly, barely audible over the howling winds as Rue opens the door and drags themselves back into the fury of the storm

Rue hurries to close the door behind them in a futile effort to keep the worst of the cold wind from blowing into the car. 

As soon as Caey is sealed inside, though, they paused, taking a moment to steady themselves with their elbow propped on the roof, supporting their weight. 

The wooziness seems to magnify tenfold with every change in position, but Rue has no intention of letting that derail their plan.

When the world has straightened out and the black spots fade away, they button their coat up and pulls it tight around their throat to keep the cold air off their neck. 

Then Rue sucks in a bracing breath and heads for the slope that leads up to the road.

It's not terribly steep, but with the snow and ice — and Rue’s dress shoes — they find themselves slipping and sliding down, reverting to crawling up on their hands and the outside edges of their shoes. 

By the time Rue makes it to the top, their head is spinning, their lungs ache from sucking in the cold air, and their ears and fingers are frozen and stinging.

Rue pulls out the phone as soon as they reached the road, unsurprised yet still disappointed to discover they have no service. Despite the frustration, Rue doesn't allow themselves to waste any time being discouraged. 

Rue knows damn well that Caey will be counting down thirty minutes in her head and will most definitely follow Rue out, heedless of the fact that she doesn't even have a damn jacket on, except for a tank top.

It takes maybe ten minutes before Rue finds a signal. 

Weak, but there. They bring one hand to their mouth, huffing slightly warmer air over their fingers so that the touch screen registers them, and then Rue’s dialing the station and Kaseh, shivering in the middle of the road as snow and ice whips around them, pelting their exposed skin as the wind rages and attacks and tries its damndest to knock them over.

"Boss?" The anxious note in Kaseh’s voice is audible even over the static-laced connection.

"Kaseh," Rue says, their heart beating double-time as soon as she speaks. Rue talks fast, knowing the call could drop at any second. "We were in an accident, near the river. The senator is dead and Ryan took off."

There's a harsh bout of static, but Kaseh still responds quickly. Unfortunately, her words come back choppy and severed and Rue is left wondering if their own message was received in much the same way.

"...cident? Are...y...jurd? Wh...aey?" Even with the halted sentences, Rue can hear the worry in the fragments of words that make it through, and they’re pretty sure they know what she's asking.

"We're okay for now," Rue shouts into the phone, as if that will help the words carry through the line in one piece. "But hypothermia is going to be a problem real soon."

Rue doesn't take the time to mention that frostbite is also going to be a problem, sooner rather than later. 

They’re trying quite hard not to worry about just how cold their extremities are and just how bad things could get if they don’t get out of the elements soon.

"We...you. Do...spec...tion?" Kaseh asks, but before Rue can answer — the best they can do is assume she's asking for location coordinates or anything else to help narrow down their exact position — the call drops and the line suddenly goes dead.

"Shit," Rue curses under their breath. They try to call again, but there’s no longer has any service.

Rue debates for only a moment. If they walk back any further on the road to search for a signal, Caey is going to come looking for them. 

Rue may be willing to risk frostbite or hypothermia themselves if it means getting help for Caey, but they’re certainly not going to risk Caey wandering around half naked in a blizzard.

So they tuck the phone back in their pocket with fingers that somehow sting while feeling entirely numb, and Rue starts walking back the way they came.

Progress is slower this time. In the amount of time it took for them to make the call, their muscles seem to have seized up and frozen, and every step back seems a hundred times more difficult than it did on the way there.

Rue’s shivering so hard that their abdominal muscles ache in a way they haven't since he joined the police academy, when they had to complete an absurd number of sit-ups everyday as part of their training regimen.

Since there's nothing they can do about that, they merely shoves their hands as deep in their pockets as they'll go, hunching their shoulders up so the collar of their jacket covers their earlobes, and presses on. 

It feels like Rue’s been walking for hours before they realized their biggest problem at the moment isn't the threat of their muscles giving out. It isn't even the freezing temperatures that they know will become life-threatening soon enough.

It's the fact that they can barely see a foot in front of their face. If it weren't for the occasional tap of their shoes on the asphalt as the wind blows the snow in drifts over the road, Rue wouldn't even be sure they’re still following the road back to Caey.

Suddenly, Rue’s unsure if they’ve walked too far, or still needs to carry on, and their head is fuzzy enough to make them question if they’re even walking in the right direction in the first place. 

What if they went the wrong way? The idea slams into Rue hard enough to knock the air from his lungs.

"Not an option," Rue says to themselves, the wind whipping the words from their mouth before they've even passed their lips.

So Rue trudges, slowly, through the mounds of snow that are building on the shoulder of the road. Their feet shift from a painful pins-and-needles sensation to a troubling numbness, but then, their face is already in the same state. 

Rue can't feel their cheeks at all, despite keeping their head down and sheltered from the worst of the wind.

The cold seeps in through their skin and beyond the muscle, freezing the blood in their veins and sinking into their bones. 

Rue’s muddled and slightly ludicrous thought process comes to a grinding halt when they hear a call from up ahead, so faint that they’re not entirely sure they hasn't imagined it.

"Rue!"

Rue pauses for half a second, trying to decide if it's merely a figment of their imagination, but they finds themselves calling back before they’ve even finished considering. "Virgo?"

"Rue," the voice comes back immediately, a little louder this time and with an urgency that makes their heart quicken in their chest.

"Virgo, stay put!" Rue shouts and begins to run, struggling not to trip over cold-numbed feet. 

The last thing they need is Caey being lost out here, too. "Call out," Rue says, winded from the cold after running for nearly a minute.

"I'm here," Caey’s voice comes from their right and down a ways, presumably down the small embankment at the side of the road.

"Are you still near the car?" Rue calls out, worried that Caey may have gone wandering.

"Yes," Caey calls out and then suddenly she’s right in front of them, wrapped up in the foil blanket and shaking like a leaf. 

"It's been t-thirty minutes."

"For the love of—" Rue huffs and tugs Caey into a firm hug, overwhelmingly grateful that she's still alive. 

"Car. Now."

In a matter of seconds, they're back in the relative safety of the back seat, but Rue can't seem to stop shaking, and the rattle of the foil blanket says Caey can't either.

"You s-shouldnt have come looking f-for me," Rue says as they rub unfeeling hands together, trying to use the friction to create some warmth. 

"And you s-shouldn't be wandering around in a b-blizzard," Caey smirks while her hands sneak out from beneath the blanket and wrap over Rue’s, bringing their combined ice blocks to her mouth and breathing warmth into the cage of their hands, in order to warm Rue’s .

"G-gotta k-keep you warm," Rue explains as Caey just stares at them.

There's a beat of silence in the car, stretching and filling the space with a weight that has no right to be there. 

And during that time, neither anyone looks away from the other for even a second. Rue feels like they’re trying to read something deep inside of Caey, but can't quite decipher the language in which it's written.

"Did you get through to the team?" Caey asks eventually, keeping her jaw clenched to stem the chattering of her teeth.

"The connection was bad, but yes." Rue blinks themselves back to the present, shaking off the moment of — whatever that was — that just passed between them. "I think they know we were in an accident, so they'll be coming. We just need to m-make it through the storm. No one is going to find us until it's over."

"Right." Caey glances at the near whiteout conditions outside the car. It would be reckless to send a search party now, not to mention that someone could pass right by them and not see the car. 

"We're on our own."

"For now," Rue assures. "They'll be here as soon as it's safe."

"Probably just before it's safe, actually," Caey smiles.

"Probably," Rue agrees with a smile that sits oddly on their face. "Either way, we n-need to keep warm until help arrives."

"Uh. Yeah, about that," Caey says, dropping her eyes to their knees, "I think our best chance of conserving enough body heat to ensure our survival is to huddle together."

Rue’s brain short circuits.

"Not entirely naked," Caey hurries to clarify, "that would be...awkward."

Rue isn't exactly surprised by the suggestion; sharing body heat is, logically, a reasonable solution to their predicament. But the idea of getting nearly naked with Caey is more complicated than Rue feels comfortable admitting or, much less, explaining out loud.

"Yeah," Rue finds themselves saying. "Come on."

Rue shrugs off their jacket and tosses it to the side, then pulls off their turtleneck and leaves their t-shirt on, shivering hard at the loss of what little warmth they had. 

Caey immediately takes the sweater and lays it flat behind Rue’s back so they’re not leaning against cold leather.

"It's fine," Rue assures, hoping to ease away the deep crease between Caey’s eyebrows.

It doesn't work. But Rue can't dwell on that right now.

"How do you wanna…?" Rue asks, gesturing between them.

"I could maybe. Um. Sit in your lap?" Caey says, so tentatively that Rue’s heart swells at the words.

"Uh. Yeah. Okay," Rue says. Uncrossing their arms to make room for Caey.  
It's slightly awkward as Caey hauls herself over, and Rue feels a little like Santa all of a sudden with the way Caey is sitting on their lap with both legs dangling off one side. 

They don't even have a chance to get settled before they realize the angle is all wrong and they won't be able to manage enough skin-to-skin contact to keep them warm.

"Oh," Caey says, a small blush sweeping over her cheeks, giving them some much needed colour. "I think, maybe, we need to…"

A little bit of rearranging and Caey is straddling Rue’s lap, knees bracketing Rue’s hips in a way that they’ve imagined more than once, but Rue viciously derails that entire train of thought before it can travel any further. 

They take off the blanket for a moment, just long enough to get Rue’s jacket draped over Caey’s back. The tiny sigh that escapes Caey’s lips as the meager amount of heat trapped in the jacket sinks into his skin brings a smile to Rue’s face.

They work together to get the emergency blanket sealed around them, wrapping it over Caey’s back and tucking either edge behind Rue.

Then there's nothing left to do but wait.  
Wait, and attempt to ignore how nice it feels to have Caey pressed up against them.

Rue lets their head fall back against the seat, lets their eyes flutter closed, as Caey tucks her face into the crook of Rue’s neck, the cold tip of her nose making Rue shiver with equal parts delight and cold.

"Sorry," Caey murmurs as she pulls back.

"Don't be," Rue nearly whispers, threading their hand through the back of Caey’s frozen hair and tugging them back down. They wrap their other arm around Caey’s back and pulls them even closer against their body.

They both ignore Caey’s quiet moan at the movement.

Rue blames the head injury for their impertinence as they hold Caey far more firmly than they have any right to. 

"You feeling any better? Any warmer?" Rue lifts their head and lets the question ghost over Caey’s skin, though their eyelids feel too heavy to pull open again, so they dont even bother trying.

"Yeah," Caey returns, her voice just as hushed as Rue’s , "I think it's working."  
Rue does, too. The heat of their bodies is building in their tiny little shelter, and they already feel warmer than they have since they first stepped foot out the car after smashing it into the tree. Which reminds them.

"I'm sorry about the accident." The fact that they're trapped in the middle of nowhere, trying their damndest not to freeze to death, is all because Rue lost control of the car. "I shouldn't have been driving so fast."

"It's not your f-fault," Caey says, and Rue hopes that Caey’s increasing shivers are actually a good sign. "We c-couldn't afford to lose Ryan, in c-case the senator had still been alive."

And yet it had all been for naught. The senator was long dead, they lost Ryan, and now Caey’s life is at risk. 

Rue can't help but feel the weight of that responsibility hanging around their neck. 

If anything happens to Caey…

"I can't lose you," Rue breathes.

Rue never meant to say it out loud. Doesn't even realize they did say it out loud until he feels Caey go tense in their arms. But Rue’s tired and their head hurts and they’re not quite feeling themselves and Caey feels so right pressed up against them and…

"Rue?" Caey whispers against their neck. "Are you...I mean...Do you…?"

Rue forces their eyes open, forces their mind to focus. They could probably play it off as fearing for Caey’s safety as a friend and mentor and nothing more. 

But it doesn't sound as if Caey is upset by their unintentional confession. Caey sounds more hesitant than anything. 

The way they always sounds when something they truly want is just within reach but Rue doesn't want to get their hopes up.

And Rue’s heart flutters madly in his chest at what that might mean.

"Do you actually want to hear what I mean?" Rue asks quietly, absently running their fingertips along Caey’s back. "Because we can drop this conversation now. No harm, no foul."

Caey pulls back, just enough to look Rue in the eye, her gaze searching, digging into the depths of everything Rue is.

"I need to know." Caey is so close that the warmth of her breath brushes over Rue’s face, softer than the words themselves.

Rue knows this might change things between them irrevocably, but if they don’t say it now, they know they never will. And Rue has far too many regrets stacking up in their life as it is.

All Rue can do is hope and pray that they’re not about to destroy the trust they've built between them.

"Virgo," Rue starts, but abruptly changes course. "Caey. I know it's not entirely appropriate, but," Rue huffs out a breath, bracing themselves for their world to change, one way or another. "I have feelings for you. More than just friendly feelings."

There's more. There's so much more. 

But it's an awful lot to unload all at once and Rue doesn’t want to scare Caey away or make her uncomfortable.

Unfortunately, from the shocked look on Caey’s face, that boat may have already sailed.

"You. Wait," Caey stumbles over Rue’s words, "You have feelings for me? Romantic feelings?"

Rue’s at the point of no return, now. 

There's no playing this off as a product of their head injury, no claiming a misunderstanding of words. It's exhilarating.

It's terrifying.

"Yes." The word is ripped from their throat, feeling heavy on their tongue as it forces its way into the miniscule space between them.

Saying it — giving a voice to something they’ve been keeping hidden, even from themselves— is cathartic in a way they never would've guessed. And everything just comes spilling out after that first word is dislodged.

"I've had feelings for you — romantic feelings — for a while now. Since you got back to New York, actually," Rue confesses, the words tripping over themselves in their haste to be spoken after being suppressed for so long. 

"Actually, it's more than that. I think I fell in love with you, Vrigo. And I know you probably don't feel the same way, and that's fine, Virgo, it really is. Nothing needs to change between us—"

Rue’s rambling, ineloquent speech is cut off by Caey’s lips — soft and beautiful and painfully cold — pressed against their own. It's the lightest of caresses, but their words splutter and die as their entire being shifts to the brilliant point of contact between them.

"And if I want things to change between us?" Caey’s lips move over Rue’s , the words floating into Rue’s mouth and dancing over their tongue.

"Then I think we need to sit down and have a conversation when this is all over. When we're no longer in danger of hypothermia," Rue says. 

The last thing Rue wants is Caey to make a decision like this when they're not entirely sure they're going to survive the next few hours.

"That's entirely reasonable. Responsible even," Caey agrees immediately, but there's a hint of a smirk on her face and Rue arches an eyebrow, knowing damn well Caey is up to something.

"But?" Rue asks, knowing they probably shouldn't.

"But. That doesn't mean we can't do this—" Caey leans in and kisses Rue again, more firmly this time, their mouths slotting together like they were made for each other, and it takes everything in Rue’s power to keep their tongue in their own mouth. 

"Right now, right?" Caey finishes with a breathy laugh.

"Jesus, Virgo," Rue huffs around a blinding grin. "Suddenly it seems a little less cold in here."

Which is only partially true. There is a pleasant flush washing through them, but since they're no longer pressed together chest to chest, their body heat isn't building the way they need it to. Rue tugs Caey closer, wrapping both arms around his back, dropping a kiss to Caey’s neck when they feel them do the same.

"That's not a no," Caey grins into their neck.

"It's not a no," Rue repeats, feeling oddly light. Like they’re floating. "But right now we need to focus on staying warm."

Despite their little cacoon doing its best to capture their heat and keep it inside, Rue understands just how dangerous their situation really is. 

Their feet are numb with cold and their legs aren't faring much better, with the exception of where Caey is straddling their lap.

There's plenty of heat there.

But they're losing heat quickly and Rue can't help but wonder if they can make it through the night if the storm continues to rage around them. All they can do at this point is hold Caey tight and pray that the storm abates enough that a search party is sent out. Soon.

They wind up dozing in the meantime, their eyelids becoming unbearably heavy, their head turning increasingly fuzzy. 

Caey’s weight against them, the warm breaths puffing against their neck, it's comforting enough that Rue doesn't fight sleep as it comes to claim them. After a while, it doesn't even feel so cold and the tension in their muscles bleeds away.

"Rue! Rue!"

A light tap at their face has Rue struggling to surface, crawling back from the dark at the panicked timbre to Caey’s voice.

"Hmm?" Rue asks, confused all of a sudden about where they’re positioned, what's happening.

"Rue, I t-think you'd better s-stay awake," Caey is shaking so hard that it's rocking Rue’s body beneath them. 

Try as they might, they can't quite seem to understand why, since it's far warmer than they remember it being before they went to sleep.

"You're cold," Rue says, frowning at just how chilled Caey’s skin is.

"S-so are you," Caey says, her breath fogging up between them.

The temperature must be dropping significantly.

The windows are frosted over, enough that they can't really see outside any longer, but the howl of wind has died down and the car is no longer being battered by it's gusts. Rue hopes that's a good sign.

"Why're you so cold?" Rue asks. It's not that he's unaware of the situation, just that they don’t understand why Caey seems to be freezing while Rue themselves feels...okay.

"It'sss c-cold in h-here," Caey shrugs, or maybe it's just a spasm from her shivers. Either way, her eyes are heavy with worry and Rue doesn’t like the look at all.

"We should do...something." Rue attempts to lever themselves upright, but Caey just pushes them back against the seat. "Shit. Your hands are like ice," they hissed as Caey’s hands slide against Rue’s chest.

Caey chuckles quietly but soon turns serious. "If w-we don't m-make it out of h-here," she starts, but Rue interrupts before they can say anything else.

"Virgo, don't," Rue pleads. This can't be the end. Not for Caey. And not when they're just discovering what they really mean to one another. 

Rue was still there, still living from day to day, working, existing, but it was like the colour had disappeared from the world, like all of the sounds around them became muted and distant. Rue spent years like that.

Things were slowly returning to normal before Caey came back to New York. 

Life began to seem like something he could, perhaps, enjoy again. It wasn't like life before Kaseh, not even close, but it was something. They had hope.  
And then there was Caey.

It was like an explosion of colours and sounds, fireworks that were nearly blinding after so long in the grey. It took them months to realize what that meant, and months longer before Rue was willing to admit, even to themselves, that their feelings ran as deep as they did.

After everything they've been through, Rue refuses to believe that it's going to end like this.

Caey opens her mouth to protest, but before she can make a sound, a wail of sirens cuts through the air and Caey’s jaw snaps shut as she looks to the rear window, searching for their salvation. 

Rue doubts they can actually see anything through the frost on the window and the snow blanketing the car, but they understand the urge to look.

"Should we try to flag 'em down?" Rue mumbles, but they suspect it would be a futile effort. Their entire body is numb and they’re not sure they could move enough to even get out of the car right now, let alone climb that hill again, and they suspect Caey is in much the same position.

"I don't t-think I c-can," Caey confirms their suspicions.

Fortunately, It doesn't matter, because less than a minute later the driver's side door is flying open and a paramedic leans in.

The extra light that flows in through the open door gives Rue a better look at Caey, and they don’t like what they see.

While Caey is pale by nature, her skin is almost colourless now, with the exception of a frightening blue tinge to her lips and around her eyes.

Rue has to force aside the cruel voice in their head that whispers that they’ve seen dozens of corpses that look nearly identical.

"Help her," Rue begs the paramedic. 

"Please."

"Hang tight. We're gonna have you out of here in no time." The paramedic climbs in the backseat with them, immediately moving to check vitals and assess their injuries.

Everything passes in a blur after that. Rue is fairly certain they lost consciousness soon after the medic arrives and is only awoken by either fear or pain for quite some time after that.

When Caey looses a weak but agonized shout as she's removed from the car, Rue’s eyes snap open and they try to reach out but their limbs refuse to cooperate and a medic is immediately at their side and suddenly Rue’s passing into blackness once again.

Rue wakes once more in the ambulance when they’re certain they’ve been set on fire, but the paramedic is quick to push them down as they shoots up on the stretcher. The sudden movement sparks a wave of vertigo and they’re out before their head hits the padding below them.

After that, Rue doesn't remember anything until they’re settled in at the hospital, aching all over, with warm saline pumping through their veins along with an overwhelming gratefulness to find themselves alive.

That joy multiplies when they look over and find Caey in the bed next to them, curled up on her side and buried in a heap of blankets, with a matching IV flooding their system with warmth.

"Hey there," Caey smiles as Rue looks over. "Welcome back."

"You okay?" Rue asks immediately. Caey looks fine, if not a little cold still, but they’d like to know for sure that there's no lasting damage from their accident.

"I'm fine," Caey chuckles and adds, "So are you, by the way."

The thought hadn't really occurred to them.

"Hypothermia for us both, with a bonus mild concussion for you. Ryan wasn't so lucky. His body was found a few miles from the river." When Rue doesn't immediately ask for more information, Caey adds, "They're keeping us in until our temperatures have stabilized and then we're free to go."

Rue barely even hesitates before they ask, "Would you like to come back to my place? I have that fancy tea you like. And all those blankets that Kaseh crocheted."

Rue doesn't offer cuddling on the couch as an additional option for keeping warm, but they’re certainly not opposed to the idea. Assuming it's something Caey is still interested in.

"Maybe we could have that conversation?" Caey asks, her voice timid and small.

"I'd like that," Rue assures her immediately. Rue doesn't want Caey to think, even for a second, that they didn't mean what they said in the car.

The blush that heats Caey’s cheeks is an especially welcome sight after everything that's happened. So is the impish smirk that pulls at her lips.

"Maybe we could try a little more of that kissing, too?" Caey suggests, sounding perfectly innocent. "I mean. Just to keep warm like we did in the car. It's very important. Practically doctor's orders, really."

"Oh, well if it's doctor's orders," Rue chuckles, relaxing into the bed now that they know that Caey is safe. "Then who am I to argue”


End file.
